


God Slayer

by LynyrdLionheart



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-16 13:37:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13637352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynyrdLionheart/pseuds/LynyrdLionheart
Summary: Caroline Forbes  wakes up in a world filled with magic and legend. First,  she thinks she might be insane. Second, she wonders if it's too late to regret having sex with the hot, dimpled guy in her dreams, especially since he has essentially kidnapped her.





	1. Elements

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Writerwithagoal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerwithagoal/gifts).



> The first verse of Ella Fitzgerald's "Someone to Watch Over Me" is responsible for giving me the idea of Klaus sweeping Caroline away to a new world filled with magic. Fairy Tail is responsible for the idea of a God Slayer being a thing.
> 
> Delena shows up briefly at the very beginning. They're the worst. I hope you enjoy this!

_“You know, if you were to find me, we could do this in reality.”_

_Caroline sighed in delight as lips kissed  along her neck and hands roamed up her body, cradling her breasts and holding her tighter against a hard chest._

_They were reclined on a bed, and in the harsh light of day, she would feel out of place on fine silk. But she had been there before, what seemed like a hundred time, and had stopped feeling awkward ages ago. She reached back and ran a hand through his blonde curls, tugging him down so she could turn her head and kiss him._

_His lips were addicting. Even from the very first dream, she had wanted to kiss them._

_“I’m trying to seduce you, Love,” he grumbled, moving so she was lying down and he was looming over her, his hands next to her shoulders._

_“Isn’t that what you were doing?”_

_“No,_ you _were trying to seduce_ me _.” He pushed her tank top up, pressing open mouth kisses along her  stomach. “I prefer to  be in control.”_

_So did Caroline, but in these dreams she didn’t mind it so much – giving a bit of her control up to someone else. So she stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, closing her eyes to better enjoy the sensation of her mouth._

_“No,” he suddenly snarled, and Caroline felt confused and cold, because he was no longer kissing her and causing her blood to heat._

_She opened  her eyes._

_\---_

The roof above her was white, the room bright.  She felt confusion,  because her sheets were no longer black silk, and there was a loud, obnoxious buzzing.

               Her alarm clock.

               Caroline groaned and covered her eyes with an arm.

               “Barbie, shut off that damn alarm!”

               Her blood ran cold, and she was no longer in her room, nor was she reclining on black silk. Instead, she was in her childhood room, a heavy body on top of hers, her own voice pleading no and –

               “Get the fuck out!” she screeched.  She didn’t bother with a pillow, instead grabbing  the alarm clock  in question and wrenching it up, hurling it at the  head of her intruder.  Damon  Salvatore threw himself backward, falling to the floor, scrambling to avoid the shoe that followed the shattered alarm clock.

               “Jesus, Barbie.  Get a hold of  your  crazy.  No wonder Donovan didn’t keep-”

               Caroline slammed the door  in  his  face and slammed shut the lock  she’d had  installed when she’d realized  that his presence in  her  life wasn’t just some terrible  nightmare, but instead a permanent fixture.  She pressed her back against the door and took a deep, shaking breath. The  warmth her dream had caused was gone, replaced by goosebumps and  shivers.   She looked around for a wild minute and grabbed the chair next to the door, propping it up beneath  the door handle.

               Certain that no one would be getting  in her room, she backed away from the door and all but fled  into her bathroom.  Within  seconds, she had stripped off her pyjamas and had the water pounding onto her back, almost as hot as  it could go.  A  few more deep breaths, and she had calmed herself enough that she no   longer  feared stepping out  of  the shower.

               By the  time  she  had put  on her clothes, makeup, and blow dried her hair, she  was  able to look in the mirror and paste on a smile that made it hard for even her to see the shadows in  her eyes.

               The rest of the world wouldn’t suspect a thing.

               When she entered the kitchen,  Elena sat at the island counter, a cup of coffee in front  of her. When she saw Caroline, a look of faux concern covered her face. Caroline hated that look; it came before the bullshit got spewed.

               “Caroline… look, I know you don’t like to talk about it, but I think you should see someone. About your mom.”

               “My mom?” Caroline repeated  blankly, completely confused.  Where the hell had her _mom_ come from? Liz had gotten cancer, then she’d died. Caroline’s heart had broken, but it wasn’t the first  dead parent she’d dealt with, and if  she still sometimes cried at night… well, it had only been six months.

               It was six years after the death of the Gilberts and everyone still gave poor orphan Elena a pass whenever she brought it up.

               And that was mean. Caroline turned from her and dug in the fridge for a  yogurt, using the time to calm her temper, so she wouldn’t say something she’d regret.  Teenage Caroline had done that a lot – saying things she regretted – and adult Caroline tried to be more tactful.

               She succeeded. Sometimes.

               “Caroline, your reaction this morning… Damon told me-”

               “ _Damon_ shouldn’t have been anywhere near my room,” Caroline interjected, all but clenching her teeth as she tried to keep the venom out of her voice. Elena’s mouth tightened, letting Caroline know she hadn’t been entirely successful. “That was the rule.”

               “Your alarm clock-”

               “Doesn’t matter.  You decided to date the man that tried to rape me, Elena.  At  least be a decent enough human to keep it out of my face.”

               Her appetite was gone, so she threw her nearly full yogurt in the trash and grabbed her wallet instead.

               She needed to be  gone. The house suddenly felt entirely too small and she needed… not to  be there. Not with Elena looking hurt, as though somehow her poor life decisions shouldn’t be commented on – as if _she_ were the victim, and not Caroline, who had to look at Damon _freaking_ Salvatore’s  face _every  day_.

               “Caroline, you know Damon has changed since then. He regrets-”

               “Oh, give it up, Elena!” Caroline snapped, spinning around to face the other girl. “He doesn’t regret _anything_. He doesn’t have to! He gets away with it _and_ he gets you! Why do better when bad behavior  gets you rewarded?”

               “I’m not some sort of prize!” Elena snapped back, finally -  _finally_ -  showing true  anger. Thank God, because he rest of it was getting on Caroline’s last nerve.

               “Tell that Damon,” Caroline replied acidly. “Your relationship is so cliché I  can map out  every  argument you have. He does something terrible, you threaten to end it. He swears  he won’t do it again and behaves well for, like, half a day. Rinse and repeat.”

               “That’s not fair.”

               Elena went back to  looking hurt, and Caroline couldn’t stand to look at her anymore. This was  her life – no parents, and a shitty friend sleeping with the man that had caused her nightmares for years down the hall.

               She was suddenly… tired.

               “You’re right,” Caroline  agreed. “Having to see Damon every day and act like he’s not terrible… that _isn’t_ fair. To  me.” She turned back to the door.  “You have until the end of the month to leave.  But he’s not welcome here. Not anymore.”

               It was a line drawn in the sand, one that would ruin their friendship.

               Caroline didn’t care.

\---

               _“I kicked my roommate out today.”_

_More often than not, the dreams were filled with pleasure  and heat.  But every now and then, it was like this. She would be upset and he would hold her. She’d cried on his chest more times than she  could count immediately after her mother’s death._

_She’d slept a lot that first week._

_Now, he stroked her hair, seemingly content to hold her.  He wore clothing that seemed like sweats and a wifebeater, but not quite. There were more laces, and the texture was cotton, but not quite._

_Everything about these dreams was_ not quite _. Once, it had alarmed her. But in the four years since the dreams had begun – almost immediately  after her dad had died – the not quite had come to be comforting to her._

_It was a sign that she had retreated to her comfort zone._

_“I gave her until the end of the month, but she was gone when I got home.”_

_And the apartment had been trashed – Damon’s touch, she assumed – but she didn’t want to bring that up. Not when it still made rage rise in her chest._

_This was her happy place; her retreat. In his arms, she could hide away  from reality. She intended to do that._

_Instead, tears filled her eyes._

_“I’m all alone,” she whispered, her voice breaking on the last word._

_Elena had been her last tie to her family, her last tie to Mystic Falls… and now she’d lost even that, tenuous  as the tie had become since Damon had re-entered their lives._

_“Easy, Love,” the murmur was low and soothing as Caroline’s shoulders shook with sobs.  “You’re not alone. You have me after all.”_

_Caroline looked up, hiccupping as she did so._

_“I wish,” she replied sadly, running her fingers over the planes of his face, tracing those full, all too kissable lips. “But you’re a dream. A comforting one… but a dream.”_

_“What if I weren’t?” he grasped her wrist, gently guiding her palm up to his lips. “A dream, that is.”_

_“I… you can’t make a dream real.”_

_“You most certainly can,” he rolled her over and pinned her to the bed.  It had taken  time, for her to trust  him enough for that, even in dreams. But he was persistent, this dream lover of hers, and he was pressing kisses along her collarbone and up the length of her neck. “Believe in it, Caroline. Believe in_ me _.”_

_He sealed his lips over hers, his tongue tracing them for a moment, before nipping her bottom lip. She clutched his shoulders, and he buried the fingers of one hand in her  hair._

_It felt so_ good _. To forget about her reality for a moment. To just let herself go and feel him._

_“Believe in_ us _, Caroline. Let yourself believe in a castle in the sky. That’s all you need to do.”_

_His words were hot and made her feel breathless… and why the hell not?_

_Why shouldn’t she believe  in him? He was the single person who hadn’t let her down, and even if  it was a dream, why shouldn’t she let herself believe in him?_

_To believe in_ something _, no matter how unrealistic, just for tonight._

_“I believe in you,” she whispered, pressing kisses to  his lips. “Tonight, I believe in you.”_

_“You’ll believe in me for longer than that, Love.”_

_Caroline’s   eyes  snapped open. His expression had changed, and he seemed darker somehow, as though the shadows that had surrounded them had now come to join him.  His eyes, normally blue, were black  and endless.  He held her face in his hands and  touched his forehead to hers._

_“I will find you, Love. We are nowhere near done yet.”_

_He touched his lips to hers in a fierce kiss, and Caroline’s vision went blurry._

_\---_

It was entirely too bright out.

               Caroline groaned and rolled over, intending to pull her comforter over her head. Only, there was no comforter to pull.

               A rock poking painfully into her back let Caroline know that she was  no longer even in her bed.  She opened her eyes and sat up, looking around. She appeared to be in a ditch. In the Boonies.

               What. The. Actual. Fuck.

               _I will find you, Love. We are nowhere near done yet._

She lifted her fingers to her lips, and  her tongue darted out. She could still taste him as if… as if…

               As if it had been real.

               She  was crazy. Clearly, Caroline Forbes had 100%  certifiably lost it. Damon would love it. Oh, God…if he was the one that found her wandering around, clearly  hallucinating, then Caroline hoped she never woke up.

               Abandoned in the Boonies would be better.

               _I will find you, Love_.

               “Well, now would be a really good time for that,” Caroline announced, probably louder than she should. She looked up at the sky, as if somehow  her dream Lover would suddenly fall down in front  of her.

               Oh God… her  dream lover. The one without a name – because he was  a dream.  It seemed weird now, but he was supposed to be a _dream_.

               Caroline pinched  herself – hard – and tears stung her eyes.  But she was  still in the middle of nowhere, only  a half dozen cows in a nearby pasture  for company.

               “I’ve screwed up,” Caroline said to the air. “I’m not entirely sure how… but I’ve done something.”

               Like trusting a nameless dream – and nope, not ready to go there yet.

               “You sound like a mad woman. If anyone from the village sees you, they’re going to condemn you as a demon.”

               Caroline shrieked and fell back into the  ditch. She  scrambled  wildly back to her feet, grabbing  a handful of pebbles as she did so and prepared to face whoever the voice  belonged to.

               The other girl was pretty, with dark skin and hair and eyes that  were alight with amusement.  She looked at the pebbles Caroline held in front of her, and raised a dark  brow, her laughter a musical thing.

               “Yes, those will definitely  get  me.”

               “You’d be surprised,” Caroline snapped back in challenge. “I’m a champion softball pitcher.”

               It had been when she was nine, and there had  only  been two other teams in the league. But Caroline had brazened her way  out of tight  messes before,  she would  do it again! Even if she felt half naked in just her pyjamas, and the other woman didn’t look at all impressed with her supposed accomplishments.

               “I have no idea what that is,” she said.  “But good luck with not  getting exorcised.”

               She turned away, and continued down the wellworn dirt trail that was the only sign that other humans were somewhere in  the vicinity. Her words made Caroline think of every terrible horror  movie she’d watched ever, and she had a sudden  mental image of a priest throwing  Holy water at her while her  head spun around and she projectile vomited everywhere.

               Why had she ever let Matt talk her into seeing that terrible movie.

               “Wait!” she called after the other woman, scrambling up the ditch and down  the path.  Green eyes looked back at her, vaguely annoyed, and Caroline stopped several feet away.  “I could… ah… I  could use some help?”

               If this _was_ her hallucination, then it’s inhabitants would be nice to her, right?

               “I don’t do charity,” was the blunt  reply, and  Caroline gaped at the woman as she once more walked  away.

               “I… but… you can’t just abandon me here to, like, and exorcism!” Caroline argued, rushing  after her again. “That’s seriously inhumane.”

               “If you’re not possessed, the exorcism won’t kill you.”  The woman paused for a moment,  looking up at the sky thoughtfully. “Probably, anyway.  Unless it’s not a real exorcist. Then I don’t want to be around, because fake exorcists like to just kill people.”

               “I… that’s horrible!” Caroline blustered in place, before realizing she was once more being left behind.  “Shouldn’t you call the cops on people like that?”

               “Cops?” a dark eyebrow lifted, and Caroline got  the  feeling  her new companion was curious despite her better judgement.  “You say  the most  insensible things.”

               “I don’t get what’s so insensible about the police,” Caroline grumbled in return, but the woman  still just looked confused.   “Ah… the authorities? You know, like for  stopping crimes?”

               “I’ve never heard  Justice Mages called either of those other  names before.  And they  don’t really care about the odd Exorcism death, not when the real cases outnumber fake three to one, and Wizards are killing  each other to steal powers  all the time.” The woman’s expression tightened, her lips going flat. “Truthfully, I shouldn’t even be talking to you.  This is probably a ruse.”

               Caroline suddenly found herself on the business end of a small,  vicious looking sickle, and she stumbled back, holding her hands up, hoping to show she was  helpless.

               “I have no idea  what  half the words you just said are.  I mean, I get wizard, but I don’t think you mean Harry Potter, and even if you do, then I’d like directions to the Hogwarts Express because I’m just a muggle  who would really like to get home!”

               By the time she finished  babbling, her eyes were closed. If she was about to die   by  way of sickle, then she’d  really rather not see.

               How do you die by  hallucination in the real world, anyway?

               When nothing happened,  Caroline finally cracked open an eye.

               The woman was a good quarter of a mile gone,  and she cursed under her  breath, running  after her.

               “Why are you following me?” she demanded when Caroline  caught  up, embarrassingly  out of breath.  “Look, I can’t  heal madness.”

               “I’m not mad!” Caroline argued. And okay, that was  probably a lie… but if Bonnie was her hallucination then Caroline demanded  some  respect, dammit!

               “With what you were  babbling? You better  be. Or else _I’ll_ believe it’s demons.”

               “That’s totally barbaric, I hope you know that.  But look, let’s just… I’m Caroline.” She stuck out her hand. The other woman wrinkled her nose  and   looked at it  as though it might suddenly try to  wrap around her neck. Caroline rolled her eyes. “ _Seriously_? You’re the  one that’s armed here, lady.”

               “Another sign that you’re mad.  Who walks around unarmed and dressed like that? One good storm and you’re dead.” Caroline wished she had  a way to cover her pyjamas, but  since she didn’t, she  just kept her hand  out and her expression as smooth as she could manage and hoped  the woman would just  _take her hand already!_ “Okay, okay, geez… that glare could be a weapon of its own.  I’m Bonnie.”

               Bonnie took her hand gingerly and broke contact as soon as  possible.

               “It’s great to  meet you, Bonnie!”

               “I can’t say the same.” Bonnie continued to eye her, and  then slumped her shoulders.  “You’re just going to follow me  until I help you, aren’t you?”

               “Yup!” Caroline put on her best cheerleader grin, and Bonnie sighed in disgust.

               “Fine, but if we run into anybody, you don’t speak. At all. You’ll be the dumb girl from down the  road or something.” Bonnie started to walk again, and Caroline followed, her smile turning painfully fake and then fading entirely when Bonnie was turned away. “If you talk,  you’ll get us _both_ exorcised.”

\---

               “The ruins are waking up.”

               Elijah  sighed as his siblings spoke in hushed  tones.   Kol had all but dragged him to the rocks submerged in Rebekah’s domain so  they could  speak.  The others hadn’t been invited, not when Finn was too loyal to their parents and Henrik was  still far too young.  Demigods aged far more slowly than their mortal brethren. Henrik still had decades before he would appear a man.

               So he was left with his two most reckless siblings as they gossiped about the return of Niklaus.

               Just the thought of his brother made Elijah feel painfully guilty.  He could still remember the betrayal in Niklaus’ eyes, when he had  realized that his siblings  were going to allow Esther to bind  him.

               “It’s not like we had a  choice!” Rebekah all but wailed. Elijah winced, and Kol rolled his eyes.  “Mother is far more powerful  than any of us.  Only another God  can kill  her.”

               “Or  a God Slayer,” Kol added helpfully, getting splashed for  his snarky comment.  The God Slayers had been hunted down and killed centuries ago.   Even now, the moment one was born, they were slaughtered. None had survived to adulthood since Elijah was a boy, and the dregs of  their clans were still being hunted. “Oh, calm yourself, Bekah.   We don’t know for certain this  even means anything. Perhaps Nik’s little pets are  merely growing restless and giving up on him.”

               The words were meant to be jovial, but it just sent them into further silence. After all, if  even the shadows had  given up…

               “Will we truly never see  him again?” Rebekah asked, her voice small.  Elijah made to comfort her, but a  sudden  chill filled the air, and the   hair on the back  of his neck rose.

               “Underestimating me, Rebekah? Have  I truly been gone so long that you’ve forgotten how clever I am?”

               Shadows seemed to converge on the rocks between Kol and Elijah, a frantic  dance of darkness, before they dispersed, leaving  behind a  slender, blond man whom Elijah had thought he might  never see again.

               “Nik!” Rebekah gasped,  joy lighting her face. They had always been close, the two of  them, and of them all Rebekah and Henrik had been the only ones  to never think that perhaps, just perhaps, what Esther had done had been for the best.

               Kol and Elijah were both quiet as Klaus greeted Rebekah, and the grin he shot back at them was sharp and hard and said he knew exactly what  they were thinking.

               “Brothers,” he said, stepping back from the  water and balancing carefully on the stones. “You don’t share our sister’s enthusiasm?”

               “Forgive me if I’m recalling the sensation that is choking  on my own blood because you puncture my lung,” Kol replied, sarcasm  heavy in his voice. “I enjoyed you better when I didn’t hear you speak.”

               “Niklaus,” Elijah said, stepping between Kol and Klaus when the latter took a step forward, bloody murder in his eyes. “Can we keep the fighting to a minimum so soon after your return?” Klaus continued to glare, but stopped his forward movement, giving Elijah the chance to observe him unobserved. “How _did_ you return?”

               “Elijah, must you always  be so suspicious?” Rebekah asked.  She levered her body out of the water and  reclined on a stone, idly waving  her tail. “Can’t we take a moment to be pleased that Nik’s returned.”

               “Yes, let’s enjoy it… after all, I’m sure that our parents – the ones that hate him – won’t at all suspect us of assisting in that return,” Kol drawled out, rolling his  eyes skyward. “Brilliant, Bekah, _really_.”

               “Must you always be such an insufferable arse, Kol?” Rebekah retorted, dipping her tail  into the water, and sending a rain of  droplets at all three of them.

               “Rebekah,” Elijah hissed, disgruntled at his carefully tailored suit getting  wet. “Can we please be serious?”

               “Oh, don’t worry, Brother.  I’ll make it clear to your beloved parents that you played no part in my return.  I merely came to offer you some advice.”

               “And what advice would that be?” Elijah replied.

               The air around  them seemed to grow heavy  suddenly, and the  darkness swirled ever closer. Within  Elijah’s  mind, memories rose, and his hands felt wet.  When he looked down, there was blood on them, and Elijah knew  he had been here before.

               _Tatia._

The name echoed in his mind, centuries old, and he fell to his knees.  He heard screams, and  shouts, and laughter – and over all of it? Screams, and a voice begging him for  mercy.

               As suddenly as the visions had begun, they ended. The blood disappeared.  The sun shone, having been shadowed by Niklaus’ darkness.  Kol knelt next to him, while Rebekah was in the ocean again,  hands grasping the stone on which they knelt.

               Niklaus was nowhere to be see.

               “That bloody bastard,” Kol hissed, embers sparking at his fingertips for a moment.

               “He said not to interfere,” Rebekah said, her voice wooden as her fingers dug into the stone. “That  if we do, he’ll ensure we’ll never leave our  nightmares.”

               Grief still made Elijah’s throat tight, but he managed to drag himself to his feet, dusting off his suit and straightening his carefully starched collar.

               “This is not our problem,” he said  at last. “We stay out of it.”

               “Elijah-”

               “Keep watch over your ocean, Rebekah. And we’ll keep to our corners. Niklaus can…” _Get locked up again by Esther? Can go to hell?_ Elijah wasn’t sure. “Niklaus can dig his own grave.”

               He didn’t remain to hear what his siblings thought of his declaration.

\---

               “Bonnie, my Love, can I – and who might you be, Gorgeous?”

               Caroline blinked at the man that had entered  Bonnie’s small hut. For a second, she had thought it might be her  dream lover, but  except for an accent, the two had nothing in common. Where her lover was blonde haired and blue eyed, this man had dark hair and dark eyes.

               But his grin was rather charming.

               “What are you doing here?” Bonnie asked, re-entering the kitchen. She had retreated to have a bath – apparently she wasn’t a believer in guests first – and now she was dressed in a clean skirt and blouse, her dark hair damp.

               Still, clearly she was grumpy with everyone, not just Caroline, and that was sort of a relief.

               “I’m afraid I got somewhat skewered, Love,” the man replied, far too brightly for the topic. He lifted his shirt, and Caroline recoiled so hard her chair nearly tilted over. There was something sticking out of the brutal wound in his side, and she thought she might be sick.

               Bonnie ignored her reaction, going over to survey the wound.  Caroline didn’t know what the… thing  sticking out of it was, but Bonnie grabbed it with a confident grip.

               And yanked it out.

               Caroline let out a disgusted shriek as blood began to spill out, and the man went instantly white, swaying on his feet.  He put up no fight  as Bonnie shoved him onto a free chair, while Caroline stood and wrung her hands, feeling completely useless.

               She _hated_ feeling useless.

               But then… then Bonnie did something amazing.

               Caroline had read Harry Potter, of course.  She’d even read a few Tamora Pierce books.  Magical healing wasn’t a fantasy novel concept that  was new  to her.

               But… this wasn’t a fantasy novel.

               But a glow emanated from Bonnie’s palm, and right in front of Caroline’s fascinated gaze, the wound began to close. What had been a bloody, gory mess became smooth, unmarred skin in, like, less than two minutes.

               “Couldn’t you have left me a scar, Love? Women love scars.”

               “That will be two hundred fifty koura.  And no, I won’t open a tab. You’re lucky I didn’t make you pay up front.”

               The man sighed heavily and pulled out a bag, counting out a handful of weird golden coins.

               “She’s a cruel one, our Bonnie,” he said to Caroline  with a grin.  “I’m Lorenzo, but why don’t you call me Enzo, Gorgeous?”

               “You were just bleeding out. Should you really be flirting?” Caroline asked, her brow furrowing.  He stood easily, and showed no sign of pain, but still… she looked at the bloody stub Bonnie had pulled from the wound and saw that it appeared to be a spearhead, and shit – the guy had been stabbed with a freaking _spear_.

               “If Enzo isn’t flirting, then it means he’s beyond even _my_ abilities,” Bonnie replied, her voice wry.  She cleaned the blood from her hands, and looked back over her shoulder. “You’ll have to take that spear with you when you go. I don’t want it.”

               “So cruel.  Now, Gorgeous, what’s your name? Bonnie’s been talking about  finding an apprentice, though I always imagined it being someone a bit younger. Late bloomer, were we?”

               “There  is no _way_ I could ever do that,” Caroline blurted out, still in awe of what Bonnie had made look so simple. At least she was creative with her hallucinations.

               “Don’t be so hard on yourself.  You’re brimming with magical  potential; Bonnie will get you there.”

               “No, I mean I _can’t_ – wait, what?”

               “Your powers, whatever they are,” Bonnie explained with rolled eyes. “You do a terrible job of keeping them cloaked. I’ve had a headache since I first saw you because of it. It’s pretty rude, really.”

               “It’s… I’m… _I don’t have magic_!” Caroline  tugged a hand through her hair, and God it was gross. _She_ was gross. “This is terrible.  I’m hallucinating, or dreaming, and why would I dream that I’m this gross?”

               “Bonnie, Love, I know you have  a soft spot for the  strays, but couldn’t you make sure they’re sane first?”

               “Shut up, Lorenzo,” Bonnie replied with rolled eyes. She grasped Caroline’s elbow and  directed her into a chair. Within a few  moments, she had a mug of tea warming her hands, and Bonnie was perched on a chair across from her while Enzo was left to get his own  tea, muttering under his  breath. Bonnie,  however, ignored him in favor of watching Caroline  as she sipped her own tea. “Now, let’s start from the beginning. You think this is a dream. Why?”

               “Because I woke up in a ditch  instead of my bed, and you’re  talking about magic. Magic isn’t real.” If it was, Caroline’s mother wouldn’t be dead,  because there would have been some magical cure for her cancer.  And Caroline wouldn’t have been forced to share a place with Elena and the Worst Person In The World.  If magic were  real, life would have been… easy.

               “That’s not how magic works, Gorgeous,” Enzo said, and it took  Caroline a moment to realize  her emotional break down hadn’t  been taking place in her  thoughts  as she’d hoped. “It’s just… part of life. It doesn’t make anything better or worse. It  just… _is_.”

               “No, it’s not,” Caroline argued. “Magic isn’t… it’s…”

               “How did you get to our world?” Bonnie’s tone was so entirely logical that  it took a handful of seconds for Caroline to compute the completely _illogical_ question.   “Oh, stop staring like that. You look like a fish. Your clothes are completely out of place, and you talk  about magic like it’s some sort of miracle. Either Lorenzo is right, and you’re insane, or you came from another world.”

               “Another world. As if that even makes sense. Bonnie it sounds so…” Caroline trailed off, and Bonnie just continued to watch her while she sipped her tea. “Oh, why the hell  not? I  had a… _dream_. And in that dream, _someone_ told me to believe in him. And then I woke up in a ditch. So, yeah.”

               “Trusting strange men  in your  dreams is never a good idea, Gorgeous. He was probably a Sorcerer who used your belief to  power  a spell to bring you here. Sorcerers are always being jerks like that.”

               “They are,” Bonnie agreed thoughtfully.  “Although it usually takes more than a dream to power spells. There needs  to be  a certain level of intimacy, that allows the magical bonds to develop  and… _oh_. Oh. How long? And  how… how  _far_?”

               “What do you mean _how far_?” Caroline replied, after nearly choking on her tea. Because she  was pretty sure she suspected what _how far_ meant.

               God, she hoped she was wrong.

               “Did you tup the dream wanker?” Enzo replied, far too cheerfully, and no, Caroline hadn’t  been wrong.

               “That’s crude but… not wrong,” Bonnie acknowledged, tilting  her head slightly  towards Enzo, but never looking away  from Caroline.

               “Oh… you know what, who even cares anymore? Clearly, I’m insane, so I might as well tell my hallucinations everything like that will  fix me. Four years, and he’s slid right into home base. Several times.”

               “You  need  to stop panicking. It makes your magic react, and every time it does, you light up like a sun and I want to pluck my eyeballs out. And what is home base? Does that mean yes to sex?”

               “Yes,” Caroline replied shortly, her teeth clenched.  This was humiliating. Talking about Him  to anyone else made her want to curl up and disappear. What did she even call the dreams?  Hyper-realistic wet dreams?

               “Look, if you’re going to be a brat, I don’t have to help you. You can leave with your weird clothes and your super bright magic, and end up getting exorcised. I’m okay with that.”

               “No you’re not, Love,” Enzo  said, earning himself a dark glare from  Bonnie, and some sort of weird looking crystal thrown at his head. “Hey! I  got you that for magical cleansings!”

               “And I was using it to cleanse my house. Yet you’re still here.”

               Enzo pouted dramatically, and Bonnie just rolled her eyes.  Despite the situation, Caroline found that she  had  to giggle, and tried to muffle the sound with her hand. It failed.

               “He isn’t funny!”

               “I’ll have you know, Bonnie, that I’m a delight. Clearly Caroline agrees.”

               “Caroline thinks we’re hallucinations – clearly she’s insane.”

               “And world hopping is  supposed  to be more  believable?” Caroline interjected because, hello, clearly hallucinations was the more logical assumption. Bonnie and Enzo, however, both   just looked  at her blankly. “Oh my God, you think it is.”

               “Well, yes,” Bonnie replied shortly.  In a  quick, unexpected blur, she lashed out and Caroline felt a searing pain on the back of her hand. She let out a yelp, and curled her  hand towards her body.  Blood slowly fell down the side.

               “What the  actual Hell?” Caroline demanded, trying to stand. Except Enzo was there, and with a firm grip, he pressed her back into her seat.

               “Pain, Gorgeous,” Enzo pointed out. “Pain and wounds. To show that this is reality.”

               “I… don’t  know nearly enough about psychology to give an opinion on that. You’re probably wrong, but I sort of don’t want you to be.”

               Caroline looked down at her bleeding hand.  She felt somewhat  detached from her body as she watched Bonnie reach out and take it in hers.  Within moments, the wound was gone, not even leaving a scar.

               “There are detectors that can determine magical abilities,” Bonnie said, dropping Caroline’s hand again.  “My cousin Lucy is one.  If we determine your magical source, we should be able to figure out your… _dream wanker_ pulled you here. Theoretically, we should  then be able to send you home.”

               “You’re helping me,” Caroline remarked, rubbing her thumb  over the spot she had been stabbed.  “Why?”

               “Don’t you ever just listen to  your instincts, Caroline?”

               Caroline’s instincts had led her to trust  a dream lover whose name she didn’t even  know. Now, they were telling her that everything around her was real, when logic pointed in the direction of her being entirely crazy.

               “My instincts are telling me to help you,” Bonnie continued. “They’ve never led me wrong before.”

               And how amazing must  that  be?  To have such complete faith in your abilities? Caroline felt her lips curve into a smile.

               “I appreciate it.”

\---

               She was here somewhere.

               His Caroline.

               Not only was his awakening proof of that, but he could feel her, as though her heart beat in tandem with his own. His every nerve and instinct screamed at him to find her

               But he had to be  careful.

               Even if his siblings didn’t inform their parent of his return -  and the odds were fifty percent on that, depending on if Rebekah decided to pout or not – it wouldn’t be long before  Esther realized he had awoken.  Goddess of the World, Esther had given  each of her children control over an element, but she had control of them as well.

               If Elijah knew his shadows were restless, their mother would  be even more aware.

               If he wasn’t careful, that  awareness would  lead Esther to straight to Caroline. His little soulmate wasn’t  ready for that.

               Not yet.

               He had felt her initial fear as though it were his own. But she had calmed since then, and seemed unaware of him. He didn’t like that – soulmates were meant  to share _everything_ – but as long as he could sense her, he would allow the incomplete bond to stand.

               At  least  while she was awake.

               Her nights, however, would still belong to _him_.

               His lair remained the same as before his sleep.  It was somewhat musty, of course, and Klaus knew he would have to find new followers to take care  of that. But for  now, he shook out the blankets on the bed – the bed that matched the one he took Caroline  to in  their shared dreams – and then  settled down.

               He drifted off, and at first he thought the bond wouldn’t work, that something – or someone – had interfered with  it.

\---

               _And then she was there,  sitting on the edge of the bed._

_Here hair was scraped back into a tight braid, and the expression on her face was distrustful.  The clothes she wore were far more familiar to him than those she usually did; the material was that of his world, rather  than the one he had stolen her from._

_“How do you keep dragging me here?” Caroline demanded.  “Is… is it magic?”_

_“You’ve made friends, Love.” When Klaus joined her on the bed, she nearly hopped to her feet, putting distance between them. It made  Klaus growl.  There should never be space between them._

               _“Yeah, and Bonnie can heal people and Enzo… well,  I don’t really know what Enzo does, but at least he’s_ telling _me things. Which is more than what you’ve done.  You took me away from my home.”_

_Klaus growled again, both at the mention of an Enzo – she had no need of an_ Enzo _, she had Klaus – and at the mention of her old home._

_Elena and Damon, whom Klaus would kill, should he ever get the chance, and a world that didn’t deserve her. A world that she didn’t belong  in._

_“I brought you_ home _,” he said, getting to  his feet. She took  a single step back and then, as though realizing she’d shown fear, she stood tall and refused to back down, even as he stepped into her personal space. His brave, beautiful Caroline. “You were never meant for that world.”_

_“You don’t get to decide that!  My life is_ my _life, and that  was  my home.”_

_“Only because they wanted me to suffer!” Klaus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her body flush to his. He buried his face against her neck and inhaled._

_Caroline smelled of power. She always had, but  now it was   even more prominent,  and Klaus believed he could become addicted to it._

_“Esther bowed to the whims of a man who loathed that he was less powerful than she. She made herself lesser for it, and punished me because I wouldn’t do the same.  To punish me, they made it so you would never be born  here. So you would always be where you would not belong.  I found you, but they’ll still die for it.”_

_He pulled back to kiss her, but stopped when Caroline pressed a palm to his chest.  Her pulse beat rapidly in her neck, and Klaus swore his own heart raced as well, but not with anything he wanted Caroline to feel._

It was fear.

               _“I don’t even know your name, and you’re telling me you’re going to kill  someone for me?”_

_“It’s Klaus. Caroline, Love-”_

_“Telling me your name now doesn’t  change anything!” she pushed him away, and Klaus took a handful of steps back while she hugged herself, rubbing her hands down her arms. “I want you to send me home.”_

_“I can’t do that.”_

_“Fine. I’ll figure  it out myself. Or with Bonnie and Enzo, if  they’ll help. Just… stay out of  my dreams. Murderers aren’t hot!”_

_She disappeared then, so suddenly that Klaus knew she must have been  woken up._

_Klaus let out an angry roar, and around him shadows  swirled like a storm._

_\---_

Caroline came awake swinging.

               Her fist hit something fleshy, and something wet spurted on her  hand and down her arm, as a male throat let out a very girly scream.

               Caroline blinked and thought Bonnie  looked entirely too amused  at Enzo curling into the fetal position at her feet, his hands clutching his  nose.

               “Oh God,” Caroline looked at her fist and arm, the red of Enzo’s blood seemed so dark against her skin.  “Oh God… I’m gonna be sick.”

               “Shove your head between your legs. It’ll probably help.”

               Caroline did as Bonnie advised, and squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on the quiet murmur of the healer’s voice as she spoke to Enzo.  She wasn’t sure  how much time had passed, before something wet was dropped on her head.

               “Clean up the blood.  If you let it dry too long, the gross factor will increase.”

               She tried really hard not  to actually look at the blood as  she wiped it away. If she focused on it for too long, Caroline was pretty sure she’d get sick again.  Once the majority was gone,  she tried to pretend the rest was just dirt as she wiped it away.

               Dirt wasn’t  nearly as disturbing.

               “You wake up with a rumble, Gorgeous,” Enzo remarked once his nose was healed. He kept his distance as he perched on the edge of her bed. “And you were giving off some rather distraught magic signals.”

               “They woke me up,” Bonnie muttered, but her gaze was more curious than disgruntled. “Dream  sweetheart again?”

               “Klaus,” Caroline replied softly, the letters of his name rolling off her tongue as she sunk onto the bed next to Enzo. _Klaus_. It fit him. He had been different tonight, as though he were finally  allowing  Caroline to see the real him, and the real him was dark. And powerful.

               She shivered, and wished it was out of fear.

               She still wanted him – darkness and power and _everything_.

               “Klaus?” Bonnie prompted with a raised brow.

               “I finally got his name. It’s Klaus. And he said something about someone else… Essie? No.. it was Es something, and he said that whoever it was, was the reason I wasn’t born here.”

               “Esther?” Bonnie asked, her voice little more than a squeak.

               “That’s it!” Caroline pointed a victorious finger at the other girl, then let her hand drop when Bonnie stumbled to the chair in the corner and sunk into it, as though her legs could no longer support her weight.  All of the irritation and exasperation that had  made up 90% of Bonnie’s mood to that moment  disappeared, replaced by something that Caroline thought might be fear.  “And that’s not good, is it?”

               “Esther is the Goddess of the World. Everything around us? It survives based  off of the Goddess Esther’s whims,” Enzo said, his voice soft.

               “And Klaus is her  most hated creation,” Bonnie added, scrubbing  her hands over her face. “The bastard son that refused to die.”

               Caroline swallowed, her throat  suddenly dry.  It sounded like Klaus’ family was… _complicated_. And the last  thing Caroline needed was complicated. Besides, Klaus had manipulated and lied to her. Even  if complicated was a thing she’d do, obviously he didn’t deserve her  effort. It didn’t matter if her stupid body still wanted his stupid body.

               Not. Worth. It.

               “Is this where you kick me out?” Caroline asked wringing her hands together. “Because if it is, you should probably know that I basically told Klaus to get fucked and I really have no idea what I’m doing. Like, at all.”

               “We couldn’t tell,” Enzo deadpanned.

               Bonnie laughed into her hands, and it sounded alarmingly hysterical,  which wasn’t a good thing.  Because Caroline was pretty close to hysterical herself.

               “We’re so screwed,” Bonnie said, when she could finally speak through the laughter. “So, so screwed.”

               “Uh… are you-”

               “ _And someday the scorned soul will return, and on that day, the Goddess will burn, and the new order will rise. The Slayers will be born again_.”

               Bonnie’s tone took on an odd cant,  as though she were reciting something. Elena used to sound like that, when delivering Shakespearean monologues, and  it had made Caroline  spitefully gleeful; at least there was one thing she had been better at.

               “Is that supposed  to make  sense to me? It really doesn’t.”

               “It’s from  the chronicles of the  Slayers; the final lines to be specific. Erana of the Wind predicted her own death, and prophesized that an even more powerful God Slayer would rise, and gain vengeance for their people.” Enzo tapped his fingers on his knee.  “Bonnie, aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?”

               “What else could it mean, Lorenzo? A scorned soul returns?” Bonnie motioned at Caroline. “Hello, Miss Scorned Soul.”

               “Me?” Caroline blinked, and realized with a flush of embarrassment that she was pointing at herself. She dropped her hand into her lap and shook her head. “I mean, I don’t even know what  you’re talking  about.  So I doubt  your… Slayer thing  refers  to me. Is that, like,  a Buffy thing?”

               “Buffy?”  Bonnie scowled at her. “What kind of God Slayer name is _Buffy_?”

               “God  Slayer… you know what. Let’s start at the beginning.” Caroline ran a hand through her hair.  “Do you have more tea? I think this callsl for more tea.

\---

               Here lies the chronicles of the God Slayers.

               They shed our blood, they broke our lines, but they will not destroy us…

\---

               They were staring.

               Caroline didn’t even have to look up to know they were staring; she could _feel_ their gazes.  She didn’t know what they wanted  from her, though.  She flipped another page, narrowing  her eyes as they ran down the words.

               Erana of the Wind had been aptly named; she was full of hot hair, and had apparently blown it all out into the book.  She had thought _Lord of the Rings_ could get tedious at times, but Tolkien had nothing on the author of _this_ book.

               “It’s boring,” Caroline finally said at last, turning a couple pages with little more than a quick glance at the page. “Like, it shouldn’t in theory, because it’s full of blood and death and super epic promises of revenge. But the reality is seriously  boring.  Has this place never heard of an editor?”

               “That book  is banned,” Bonnie replied, her voice flat. “I  could honestly be killed, simply for owning it, and you’re calling it _boring_?”

               There were plenty of boring books that  been banned at one point or another, but Caroline had a feeling Bonnie would be one of those book snobs that lied to herself and pretended the “classics” didn’t make her want to throw herself down a ravine.

               Caroline gave a small shrug and  tried to read the book again.

               Still boring.

               “Is there a cliff notes version of this?” When Bonnie looked at her blankly, Caroline wrinkled her nose and sighed. “You know… like a summary? Something that highlights the pertinent points without all the…filler.”

               “Sure. Her name is Bonnie,” Enzo replied cheerfully.  “What say you, Love? Want to outline the pertinent points for us?”

               It was Bonnie’s turn to sigh, and her eyes flashed as she shoved a finger at the book.

               “This contains the final words of a people believed to be extinct. It outlines their rise, and their fall, and contains forbidden prophecy of their return.  My grandmother was killed because of this book. Countless infants have been slaughtered, just because  there was a whisper of a chance that they were the Scorned Soul of the prophecy.  So no, I won’t do… _cliff notes_. Read it or die.”

               Bonnie swept out of the room, leaving Caroline  and Enzo to stare after her.

               “I think I pissed her off.”

               “Don’t feel bad, Gorgeous. I piss her off daily.  It’s remarkably easy to do.” Enzo looked over Caroline’s shoulder at the book.  “But in this case, she may be right. I’ve never read the chronicles myself, but I knew a woman once who was familiar with them. They frightened her.”

               “Yeah, but Bonnie thinks whatever Erana wrote refers to _me_ , Enzo. And that it could kill me.  I am… entirely average. Except for a Type A personality, and that doesn’t make me unique in any way that’s enjoyable. So, I just… I’d rather focus on getting home.” Caroline flicked the book closed and leaned back in her chair. “Let someone else be the _Scorned Soul_. I don’t want it.”

               “Destiny has a habit of ignoring what we want in favor of what we need, Love. Beyond that, if you think the Son of the Moon will let you just disappear after going through all the trouble of bringing him here… well, maybe you should jump ahead to what Erana said about _him_. Just a heads up – he’s somewhat horrible.”

               Enzo patted her head like she was a toddler, and then followed after Bonnie.  Caroline watched him go, her brow furrowed. Whatever this situation was, it had gone from terrifying to a nightmare, but she was beginning to think it one she wouldn’t wake up from.

               She didn’t have an imagination creative enough to come up with all of this.

               “Well, Erana. It’s just you and me. If Bonnie’s right about me, then she better be right about you keeping me alive, too.”

\---

               “Are you going to turn her in?”

               Bonnie didn’t look away from her scrying bowl.  Her Magic was healing, but her grandmother had taught her to read the water as a young girl.  It appeared murky to her more often than she cared to admit, but the process of seeking the future helped to soothe her when she was frustrated or troubled.

               Today, she was both.

               “If we leave her alone, she’s probably going to get snoopy.  A snoopy, untrained Mage can cause problems in my house. Especially with her power.”

               “I can’t tell exactly what her abilities are,” Enzo said, as though Bonnie hadn’t spoken. “I mean, I know she’s powerful, and I know there’s elemental magic, but I can’t tell what kind. Still, it does fit in with your theory, I suppose.” He leaned against the counter, and Bonnie felt his gaze on her as she stared down into the water. “So, are we turning her in? I bet Esther is rich. I’m a big fan of koura, and your healing damn  near broke me. So, what do you say? Wanna go halfers?”

               For a single moment, Bonnie considered it.  Her grandmother had been a Seer, and she had told her once, that her bleeding heart  would help the wrong person someday. It hadn’t been a warning – Shelia had spoken with the bone deep certainty that meant her vision wouldn’t change.

               Just a year after that, it had been _Shelia_ who helped the wrong person, and she had died for it and the legends in the book Bonnie had put in front of Caroline.

               Shelia had thought that Liv was the one meant for greatness. Instead,  Liv had been a liar and a thief and, ultimately, a traitor. She had died, too, thinking that by approaching a Mikaelson with the things Shelia had told her would save her life, despite her Slayer blood.

               She had been  wrong.  So they both died.

               What if Bonnie was wrong, too? She looked back to the dining room, where they had left Caroline.  She wasn’t at all what Bonnie would imagine a prophesized  heroine to be.  After bathing, she had spent nearly an  hour drying her hair and carefully grooming it. She had bemoaned a lack of makeup in Bonnie’s cottage.  She was soft, and still wasn’t sure she believed she was sane, and she didn’t have the first  clue about magic. Esther would destroy her without thinking twice.

               And…  that thought made something inside Bonnie twist. Because sometimes, Caroline’s eyes were so very _sad_ , and Bonnie had felt that  kind of sad before. And maybe her extremities _were_ soft, but there was a steel in her spine that kept her from breaking apart entirely, even though she was  far from home and would likely never return.

               “Well?” Enzo asked, voice cutting into Bonnie’s thoughts.

               “No one would even believe  us if we did turn her in,” she  replied  brusquely.  “So we  might as well help her.  No one else will.”

               Bonnie turned from the water and began to cut up herbs. Enzo joined her, his hands quicker even than hers.  She looked at him from the corner of her eye, and saw the tiniest of smirks on his stupidly nice lips.

               “You weren’t  even serious about that,” Bonnie said, her hands hesitating for a moment.  She let out a huff of laughter.  “Of course you weren’t. You like her.”

               “So do you. You just needed to admit it to yourself.” Enzo nudged her with his elbow. “She’s stronger than you think.”

               “No she’s not,” Bonnie replied, thinking of that steel in the other girl’s spine. “She’s exactly as strong  as I think she is.”

               “Can I help?” Enzo and Bonnie both looked up as Caroline stepped into the doorway.  She held up her hands when Bonnie glared at her. “I’ll keep reading. I just need a break. My eyes were getting exhausted.”

               “Dice up  those. Don’t cut your  fingers.” Bonnie motioned  at another knife and some  roots.

               They worked in silence for a while, before Caroline finally asked the question that had obviously been her reason for joining them.

               “Klaus… is he really as bad as Arana says he is?”

               Bonnie bit her lip, staring down at her plants.

               “We don’t know, Caroline,” she finally said. “He was locked away centuries  ago, shortly after Arana  died, in fact. But the others… Esther’s other children, they aren’t _kind_. And at least they have mortal blood. Klaus is the only true Immortal of the bunch, and Immortality rarely ever lends itself to kindness.”

               “Mortals are  beneath their notice,” Enzo added.  “And it’s made worse for a bloke like Klaus; legend has it his father was Ansel of the Moon, the Wolf King. They don’t tend to think of much but their Pack and their mates.”

               Bonnie  didn’t quite  understand the look he levelled at  the blonde, and Caroline was too busy focused  on her roots, or perhaps it was her thoughts.  Her brows her furrowed, and her lips pursed.

               “How much trouble would it save you, if you _did_ turn me in?”

               Bonnie jerked and nearly took off her finger at the question.  She  didn’t  even react when Enzo plucked the knife from her  fingers and set it aside. But Caroline had looked up and was meeting Bonnie’s gaze head on. The girl she had thought of as silly as  she bemoaned the absence of makeup was replaced by those sad eyes and that spine of steel.

               “I don’t let people die  for me, Bonnie,” she said simply.

               “What about you? Do you die _for_ them?”

               Caroline blinked, her expression troubled, and  then she shrugged.

               “I tend to fall more on the survivor side of the survivor versus martyr scale.  But I’m good at it, without using people that help me as a red shirt.”

               “Gorgeous, that makes no sense,” Enzo said, perfectly verbalizing both his own and Bonnie’s confusion.  Caroline rolled her eyes, and the too serious girl was replaced once more  by the shallow slip of  a girl she’d first appeared  to be.

               “Whatever. I don’t want you to die for me. It’s pretty simple. It’s not like I’ll say no to help. I’ll just say no to, like, a suicide mission or something.” She set her knife aside primly. “I sort of skipped around to find the bit about Klaus, so I guess I’ll go back to reading about Arana’s childhood in Bumfuck, Magicland.”

               Then she flounced away, and Bonnie found herself giggling.


	2. Demi-Gods

_“Are you really going to ignore me?”_

_“Did you know I could bring things here with me? Because I didn’t, yet look. This book will haunt me, even in my dreams.” Caroline held up the Slayer Chronicles briefly, before lowering it back to her lap. “Then again, it’s preferable to the other_ things _that haunt  me.”_

_“_ Things _meaning me, I assume?”_

_The bed dipped behind her, and Caroline kept her attention determinedly on the book in her lap.  She had reached the part about the Elemental Magicks, and for the first time, Caroline found herself fascinated.  It seemed that Arana_ could _be an engaging writer, when she found the topic engaging herself._

_It  was obvious she loved her magic._

_What would it be like? To feel the wind around you, controlled by your will, as Arana described?_

_“You imagine it around you.” Caroline froze when she felt Klaus lips at her ear.  She shivered when he ran his fingers down her arm, until he  could twine their fingers together, removing hers from the book.  “The air is everywhere – imagine it, feel it.  Breathe it, and when you breathe out, it is yours to control. Breathe in.”_

_Caroline felt her lungs inflate, as though she couldn’t help it.  Her eyes drifted closed, and her muscles relaxed. Not because of Klaus… but because of the air._

_“Out… and control it.”_

_He let her remove her hand from his, and she imagined the breath leaving her lungs flowed there.  She could  feel a warm swirling along her skin, and she got to her feet.  She opened her eyes, but she wasn’t looking at the room she woke in._

_She inhaled again, and as she exhaled, she stepped upward, certain that the air would be solid and support her weight.   She repeated it twice more, until she could spin around to look at the bed, excitement a thrill in her chest._

_Klaus lounged there, his fingers stroking Arana’s book as he watched her his  smile… proud._

When was the last time someone had been proud of her? _Not since her mother had died._

_She didn’t want_ him _to be proud of her though, did she?_

_Uncertainty reigned, and suddenly her hold on the air released, and Caroline prepared to let out a shriek as she flailed towards the ground._

_She never got the chance._

_Two arms cradled her, and her eyes popped open to meet Klaus’._

_“There’s no room for uncertainty in magic, Love. Particularly not Elemental magic.  You have to believe that the world is yours to bend as you please.  That it will obey you without question.  That you will_ win _. There can be no doubt.”_

_He traced her cheeks with his fingertips, and despite his manipulations, she felt as though she were precious to him.  And  like he was precious to her.  Her heart skipped a beat, and her throat felt tight, and she was entranced as she watched his Adam’s apple bob, as though his throat were tight, too._

_“I have never known want, Caroline, until I knew you.”_

_“That is quite possibly the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard,” Caroline replied. She didn’t add that she kind of liked it, but Klaus’ eyes were warm, and she knew that he knew her unspoken words. “Arana calls you a monster. It’s in chapter twenty-five,  because she’s very…_ boring _. But I skipped ahead, to find out what she wrote about the Son of the Moon. And she called you a monster.”_

_“I am,” Klaus replied.  He took her hand, and pressed a kiss to her palm.  “It’s in my blood.  Will you deny me because of it?”_

_“Damon was a monster,” Caroline replied, old fear making goosebumps rise on her skin.  “And he was completely human. I don’t think blood is enough to make someone a monster.”_

_“I am still what I am.”_

_Caroline nodded thoughtfully.  She reached up to trace her fingers around his ridiculously full lips, and then dropped her hand to his chest, carefully pushing him away._

_He went, and let her clamber to her feet.  She wasn’t sure a monster would be capable of doing that, not when she swore she could feel his need for her like a pounding in her veins._

_“You didn’t answer me, Caroline. Will you deny me because of what Arana says?”_

_“I don’t know,” Caroline admitted.  “I won’t make promises until I have the whole story, and  I’ve barely begun Arana’s.”_

_She thought Klaus might rage at that. He reminded her of how he’d been during their last shared dream – barely restrained rage and desire. Yet still, he kept his distance, simply picking up the book and holding it out. Caroline took it, and held it close to her chest._

_“Fine, but will you promise me one thing? Before you believe all Arana of the Wind wrote, hear my side.”_

_“Okay.” Caroline figured she could handle that._

_“And learn fire next. I believe it will come even easier than the air did.”_

_“Fire… but I controlled the air. I’d be Caroline of the Wind.”_

_Wrong as that sounded, it had been clear by the passages about magic that she’d read so far that Air God Slayers controlled Air._

_“Ah, Love, you’re  nothing as plebeian as a member of the_ Wind _Clan.” Klaus was suddenly in front of her, his eyes seeming  to glow yellow. Children of the Moon were werewolves, and this was the first time Caroline had really noticed how inhuman Klaus was._

_Or perhaps it was the first time he was letting her see it._

_He cupped her face in his hands, and she was helpless to resist him when he sealed his lips over hers._

_The need she had thought was his became hers as well, and she clung to him in a way she usually would have thought embarrassing_

_“Fire, Love,” he murmured against her lips. “You’ll like it.”_

_And then he was gone._

_\---_

               This time, Caroline came awake more slowly.

               She had fallen asleep reading the Chronicles, and it was open next to her on the bed. Caroline pushed herself into a sitting position and almost laughed when she saw the chapter.

               Fire.

               She didn’t pick it up again,  instead climbing out of bed.  She stretched, and then looked ahead of her.  There was no room for doubt.

               Inhale.

               Exhale.

               She looked down, and her feet had left the ground. She hovered, just an inch or two off the ground, and then inhaled again.  On her next exhalation,  she  rose a little higher.

               It was more difficult than it had been in  the dream,  and she could feel a light sheen of sweat  forming on her forehead.

               “Hey, Gorgeous, ready for – bloody hell.”

               Enzo’s presence broke her concentration, and Caroline’s hold on the air released.  With no Klaus there to catch her, it was only Caroline’s own quick instincts that kept her from rolling her ankle, or something worse. Cheerleading and gymnastics finally had real life purpose, it seemed.

               “What’s going  on?” Bonnie asked, joining Enzo.

               “Caroline there was… floating?”

               Bonnie quirked her head, and Caroline took a several deep breaths, until she could grasp the air and lift  herself again.  This time, she kept herself to just a couple inches, and fought for focus as Bonnie slowly walked around her,  tapping her chin thoughtfully.

               “Air isn’t natural for you,” she remarked when she came back to stand in front of.

               “It’s more difficult than it was in my dream,” Caroline admitted, gasping for breath. With Klaus at her back, it had been easy. Now, she felt as though she’d run a marathon.

               “Your dream?” Bonnie prompted.

               “I…” Caroline hesitated.  Should  she lie?  It  was on the tip of her tongue  to do it – to say that she’d dreamt of flying with Arana or something.  But she had totally eavesdropped on Bonnie and Enzo’s conversation about turning her in. They  were helping her, even though it was dangerous.

               They deserved better than a lie.

               “Klaus,” she admitted with a sigh. “He… helped me. I guess magic is easier when you’re dreaming?”

               “Hmmm,” Bonnie’s hum was non-committal, but she also didn’t look nearly as  judgemental as  Carolilne had feared she would be. “You need to leave.”

               _Oh._

Caroline had made a sort of  peace with Klaus, but now she was far too aware that he was not with her. Bonnie  was. Enzo was. And now…

               “I… do you at least have a map I could have? I’d offer to buy it, but I don’t  have any money, so-”

               “Koura,” Bonnie corrected, spinning on her heal and walking out of the room.  “We pay for things  with  Koura.  We’ll need to teach you the basics of our society, but Eresthem is two days away.  It will cut into the time  you can spend  on the Chronicles, but we’ll  have to make do.”

               “What are you talking  about?” Caroline asked, rushing after Bonnie and  feeling completely confused.

               “Lucy is a Detector, so we need to  talk to her first. I trust her, but if anyone else realizes you’re… not  from around here, then our future is likely to not last long.”

               “Bonnie, stop for a second. I’m confused. You said I needed to leave.”

               “You do. You can hardly learn what you need to in my cottage, Caroline.  And it doesn’t sound like your Niklaus of the Moon is going to give you the years it usually takes to hone magical power. So we need to get you help.”

               “ _We_?” Caroline asked,  her voice small.  But she suddenly felt ridiculously, incandescently _hopeful_.

               “That’s what  I said, isn’t it?” Bonnie replied, raising a brow. “I don’t plan on dying for you. But if you’re as good at surviving as you claim, then it  won’t be an issue.”

               “Thank-you,” Caroline breathed out.

               “Don’t thank her yet, Gorgeous,” Enzo said cheerfully.  “She’s a terrible teacher. I’d best tag along. At least you’ll have brief flashes of joy with me  between the misery of Bonnie’s lessons.”

               “You just don’t want to miss  out on the best gossip,” Bonnie shot back, before looking at Caroline again. “Klaus…what did he tell you to do next.”

               “Fire,” Caroline replied, feeling hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be completely out of her depth after all. She heard Enzo give a sharp intake of breath at her answer, but Bonnie just nodded, as if Caroline’s answer _didn’t_ go against magical laws. “Then you’ll focus on that too. Enzo’s probably right – this is going to be miserable for you.”

               Caroline didn’t even  care.

\---

               Klaus was in such a pleasant mood after sharing the dream with Caroline, that not even the presence of one of his siblings could ruin it.

               Even if that  sibling _was_   Finn, and he was most likely there  to kill him.

               “Brother! It’s been far too long! I didn’t  expect to see you until I sent out my home warming invitation, so you’ll have to excuse my mess.”

               Finn’s spine stiffened, and his fingers jerked, as though he were contemplating  turning  his powers on Klaus.  It made him think of Caroline, and the steps she had  created in her dream, and a  frisson of anticipation ran down his spine.  What  would Finn’s reaction be, when he was helpless and broken at the feet of Klaus’ little soulmate?

               And Caroline _would_ win in any confrontation with Finn.  Air might not be  a natural fit for Caroline, but she was stubborn, and she would refuse to die. Not even Finn’s mastery of his  element would overcome the  stubbornness that drove Caroline in all she did.

               The  shadows in the cavern rose as Klaus stepped into the cavern behind Finn. He spun around, the  air  around them growing heavy as he did so.

               “If you think to intimidate me, Niklaus, it’s a sad attempt.”

               “And if you think to suffocate _me_ , you’d best think again. Only one of us is a true Immortal.”

               The human blood, given to his siblings by Mikael, left them with the weakness of a  human heart, and the greater weakness of weaker bodies.  It would be so incredibly easy for him to kill them.

               Was that how Esther had felt, when she stood over each of the children she bore? Had she looked at them, and  viewed the weakness they would eternally carry because their blood was only half hers?

               And was it because Klaus hadn’t carried that same weakness, that she had hated him so?

               “I was in good mood,” he informed his brother testily.  “Now you’ve gone and ruined it. What do you want, Finn?”

               “I came to see if it was true,” Finn replied, blinking when the shadows retreated once more. The cavern wasn’t _light_ , not really, but without the shadows Finn could at least see him now. Klaus, of course, had been able to see his brother the whole time. Darkness had never affected him, and not just because of the power he held over shadows.

               His wolf blood meant he would  forever see best at night.

               “If what was true?” Klaus asked, not particularly _wanting_ to speak to Finn.  But ignoring him would just lead to an  even longer lecture.

               “If you truly had the gall to show your face in Hellias again.  I daren’t believe even  you would be so arrogant.”

               “In other words,  mother told you to see if the rumors were true, and you toddled off like a good little boy. Pathetic, Finn. Truly pathetic.” Klaus contemplated his cavern, and tried to view it through Caroline’s eyes. Thinking of her was far more enjoyable than dealing with his family. She liked color, bursts of it had always made up her clothing. 

               He might need to find a new home. Perhaps they could compromise somehow, a cavern beneath, and bursts of color  above?

               “Are you listening to me, Niklaus?” Finn’s voice was a sneer, and it took a moment for  Klaus to realize he had continued to speak even after being called pathetic.

               “No,” Klaus replied, making Finn turn red with anger. But Klaus had never particularly cared about how his siblings felt, particularly not Finn.  “Begone.”

               “Still  so arrogant. But you won’t be for long – Esther replaced you, brother.  A Child of the  Light, to make up for the disaster  that was her  affair with Ansel.   So long as Henrik lives, you  will never find power again.”

               “Lord, but you truly refuse to cease speaking, do you?”

               It took a  flick of his wrist, and Finn fell to the  ground as  their other siblings  had. They had grown weak since Klaus had been put to sleep; prior to that, it hadn’t been nearly so easy to get into their minds.  He’d had to wear them down physically before he was able  to bring them to their knees mentally.  Clearly, Esther had  truly believed in her own  legend, if she hadn’t made her children maintain their training.

               Or perhaps she had simply feared them growing too powerful, like the son she had trapped away.

               Still… a Demi-God with control of the light could be troublesome.  As Klaus could use a person’s darkest secrets and deepest nightmares against one, a Child of the Sun could heal those hurts, until they held no power.  Klaus wondered how old the mage would be.  How long had he been trapped away?  He should have asked one of siblings.            

               No matter. This Henrik would simply have to die.

\---

               Caroline had a headache.

               The excitement and hope of travelling with Bonnie and Enzo was long gone, replaced by frustration and a pounding  in her temples.

               There were too many damn things to remember.

               She was  in Hellias, where they paid in Koura, and her clothes were made out of Duraa skin, and if  Caroline  had still thought herself in some sort of crazy hallucination, she wouldn’t now

               _Houston, can you hear me? We’re not in Kansas anymore._

Even when they took a break from Hellias 101, she was expected to read the Chronicles. And it was clear that Erana wasn’t into fire, because the book had lost the brief moment of interest it had claimed during  the air chapter.

               _Fire is hot. It can cause damage. It’s not nearly as powerful  as air._

And okay, it was a little more complicated than that,  but was clear Erana had clear air bias, and it had seriously affected her writing.

               The wagon they  were taking to Eresthem had hay in the back to cushion it, but the stupid stuff just poked Caroline uncomfortably and made her itch. Plus, it hit, like, every stone and made Caroline _and_ her book jerk to the side. Enzo was driving – did you call it driving? – the slow moving creature Bonnie had called a drathma.  Drathmas sort of looked like bear-donkeys, and she didn’t know how she felt about that.

               Bonnie was in the wagon with her, and seemed to have somehow fallen asleep.

               “Why does Bonnie think it’s so important that we go to Eresthem?” Caroline asked, easing herself up into the driver’s seat, next to Enzo.

               “Lucy is a powerful Detector. Far more powerful than I am. She’ll be able to tell us, for better or worse, if our suspicions are correct.”

               “You’re a Detector?” Caroline asked, surprised, because  she hadn’t realized Enzo had magic. Maybe she should’ve; after all, he had commented on her  magical  power.  Caroline had just sort of thought that was a thing people could do in this world.

               “Not a particularly powerful one.  I can measure magical power, but I can’t tell ability. Someone like Lucy can.”

               “Can we trust her?”

               Enzo went uncharacteristically silent, his lips tightening and his  brow furrowing. He played with the straps he used to steer the drathma… and Caroline really needed  to learn the correct lingo when talking about carts and livestock.

               She really  missed her car.

               “I don’t know Lucy well. She’s a Bennett, and they’re loyal to one another.”

               “I’m sensing a _but_ here.”

               “ _But_ … you’re not a Bennett. And Lucy might not like the idea of Bonnie helping you.  A lot of Bennett’s have died because they were kind. Many of those left learned from that mistake.”

               But not Bonnie…and how _good_ did a person have to be, to help a stranger when  doing so tended to kill loved ones? Far better than Caroline  was, for  sure.

               “But we’re still going to her.”

               “Yeah. We need to know, Gorgeous.” But Enzo’s expression was grim, something she hadn’t really seen from him since they’d met. “Tonight, I’ll teach you some basic knife moves. Just in case.”

               _You hold it like this… and then jerk._

Caroline  shivered, her father’s words coming  back to her. She had been a teenager, who hadn’t understood _why_ he wanted  her to know how to use a knife so badly, but she’d been so desperate for his  approval  that she’d learned.

               Once she had realized it  didn’t matter _how_ well she handled a knife, he still wasn’t coming back to Mystic Falls or her, she’d dropped him and the  stupid weapon, because she’d always been better with  the handgun her mom had taught her to use anyway.

               Back then, the gun had seemed to  be a far more useful weapon.   Now that  she was  in a world  that seemed to lack even basic indoor plumbing, the existence of guns  didn’t seem that likely.  Which meant the knife fighting would probably  be useful right about now.

               “I  know basics,” Caroline said.  “It probably wouldn’t hurt to learn more.”

               Expression still grim, Enzo just nodded.

\---

               _“Are we going to do this every night?”_

_Klaus grinned and moved rapidly to Caroline’s side. He pulled her into his arms and relished in the thrill that made his heart skip a beat.  It wasn’t_ his _thrill, a sure sign that the bond between them grew stronger with each dream they shared in his world._

_He pressed his lips hungrily to the soft skin of her neck, and growled low when she pushed him away.  It wasn’t a hard push, and would have been easy to resist…  but he hadn’t forgotten confessions she had  made to him, back when he was  first able to gain entrance to her dreams._

_Damon Salvatore deserved a painful death.  In lieu  of that, he would simply step back when Caroline told him to, unwilling to break whatever fragile trust existed between them._

_Unwilling to hurt her more than she already had been once._

_“What are you doing?” she asked, somewhat breathless._

_“I would have thought that was rather obvious, Love.”_

_“Okay, fine. You_ can’t _be doing that.  I’m still  angry at you.”_

_“Why?” Klaus  asked, finding that he was genuinely confused  about her determination to miss her birth  world. “You were miserable there.  You  were forced to…you didn’t exactly_ like _Damon, Love. And Elena treated you terribly.  Your loved ones were dead, you didn’t seem to particularly care for your classes. You told  me once, that you wished to make a difference, did you not?”_

_“Yeah – there. Because it was my home.”_

_“You were wasted there, Caroline. You would have faded into mediocrity, forever hidden behind the false brilliance  of Elena Gilbert.  You know what you’re meant to be here. That you have Erana’s book tells me that.  Here you  will be…_ everything _.”_

_Caroline kept her back to him,  hugging her arms around herself.  She seem to curl into herself, and when he scented salt in the air he snarled again._

_“You didn’t give me a choice,” she finally said, her voice thick. “Maybe I would’ve… faded into mediocrity – but at least it would have been  my_ choice!”

               _She twirled towards  him, and though there  were tear tracks on her cheeks, her eyes were hard  and dry._

_“I told you my darkest  fears.  I told you… I told you what happened to me.  And yeah, I thought you were a dream, but I also though  you_ knew _me.  And now it turns out you were real all along, but you didn’t know me at all, or you would’ve known how important it was that I get to_ choose _.”_

_“You would’ve have chosen wrong. You would have clung to Elena, and the ghosts of your parents, and you would have_ chosen wrong _.”_

_“Maybe. But now we’ll never know, will we, Klaus?” she looked away from him again.  “What do you want from me?”_

_“You know  what I want, Caroline. You can feel it in your blood and bones. I’m there, just as you’re in mine.”_

_She looked at him for a moment, her lips quivering, before she looked away again._

_“What do you want that I can give?”_

You _. That was what he still wanted  to say, because she was  right there and they_ could _have that. If she just pushed away her foolish pride, she’d realize that what he’d  done was done for_ her _, for them.  She would have chosen  wrong._

_He knew that, as he knew his own name._

_“You’re the God Slayer of the World.” Caroline jolted at his words, and her heartbeat picked up speed.  “You knew that, Caroline.”_

_“No one’s  said it out loud,” she admitted softly. “I guess… I could pretend it wasn’t  anything  that serious, until you put it out there.”_

_“You mean you thought you could run from your problems?  Run from the fact that you alone  can kill Esther… and you will kill her, Love.  Or  she will kill you. She dislikes threats to her  power.” Caroline  still refused  to look at him, and he felt anger rise in him. After the last dream… he knew she still had some irritation with  him, but he had at least thought her willing to_ try _if nothing else.  Now, she stood so close, yet was so far away, and he  wanted  her heart  to hurt the way his was. “Tell me, Caroline, how has running worked out for you so far?”_

_Again, she looked at him, anger a living thing in that  burning  gaze._

_“Fuck you, Klaus. Fuck you and everything you are.  I’ll kill Esther, but just so you’ll know  I could kill you too.”_

_Klaus remained in that shared space long after Caroline left it.  His words had been cruel. So had hers._

_Yes… fire would suit Caroline well._

\---

               She woke after the dream still pissed off, and channeling that anger into  creating flames when Enzo made an idiotic comment was  beyond easy.

               Where controlling air in the waking world  made her sweat and shake, the fire filled her with energy, and she thought she could probably make the whole world burn with the force of her anger.

               The problem, in the end, wasn’t creating flame. It was _controlling_ it.

               “You need to figure out how to calm down,” Bonnie told her, putting out another fire with the water they had started to keep in a bucket in the wagon. “What the hell set you off anyway?”

               They had alternated asking her that since the previous day, when he had awoken  in her foul mood. She had taken to falling  asleep on and off during the day, just so she wouldn’t need to sleep over night.

               Her mood had grown even darker that morning.

               “I  let Klaus know what I thought of his interference in my life,”  Caroline muttered.  “He didn’t appreciate it.”

               Well,  Caroline  didn’t appreciate that he had messed up her entire life plan and then acted  like it was his right, and for her own good.  So Klaus could suck it.

               “Hells… he’s going to kill us, isn’t he?” Enzo asked with a heavy sigh.  “It would’ve been nice to have at least _one_ of the crazed Gods on our side. Now they’ll all want us dead.”

               “I don’t think so,” Bonnie replied, and Caroline wished she would just say whatever was on her mind, instead of looking at her in that half curious, half cautious way.  She’d looked at  Caroline that way a lot, it seemed, and she suspected it had a lot to do with the dreams she shared with Klaus.

               Caroline  knew she should ask more questions about them, about why they were happening, but she could only deal with so many life altering events at once.

               “We should reach Eresthem in the next few hours,” Bonnie said into the silence that had fallen over them.  “And then we’ll know.”

               “We know anyway,” Caroline muttered darkly.  That, at least, Klaus had been clear about.

               “Maybe, but I’ll trust Lucy more.”

               Caroline nearly snapped out that _she_ didn’t trust Lucy, because _she_ didn’t know Lucy… and dammit, but this _was_ about _her_.  But then another fire burst up, and she put that out instead, and tried to read more of the Chronicles and ignore everything else.

               The Chronicles were still boring, but at Eresthem came without another fire, which Caroline decided to call a victory.

               Lucy lived in a cottage similar to Bonnie’s on the edge of the town. As they entered, ushered in by Lucy herself, Caroline felt her nose crinkle.  There was a smoky scent to place, like burned herbs.  But Enzo and Bonnie didn’t seem to notice anything, and Caroline still recalled what Enzo had said about the surviving Bennett’s not necessarily approving of Bonnie aiding her.

               She figured silence was her best bet.

               “What brings you to my humble abode?” Lucy asked, once they were all settled with mugs of tea in front of them.

               “We need a Detection performed on Caroline.  She’s new to magic, and Enzo just knows she has an impressive power level,” Bonnie replied.   Caroline fidgeted, while Lucy got up, and began to collect a bowl and ingredients.

               “That won’t be a problem, little cousin.  Any suspicions on what we’re dealing with?”

               They exchanged a look behind Lucy’s back.  Caroline’s hand curled into  a fist, and her every instinct screamed at her to get up and _leave_.  She could still smell that smoke, and it felt like it was choking her. Pain pounded in her temples, and she felt her body sway slightly.

               “God Slaying Magic,” Bonnie finally said, her gaze on Caroline, expression concerned.

               Lucy dropped her bowl with a loud thump, and spun towards them, her eyes seemingly impossibly black.

               “You damn fool of a girl.  When Abby told me, I didn’t think she could be right.  Not with grandmother’s warnings.”

               “Abb – why are you talking to my mother, Lucy? After the part she played in everything?”

               “Because Abigail Bennett  might have made you angry, but she still wants you to _live_.  Dammit, Bonnie – we  just  want you to live.”

               The pain in Caroline’s  temples became a thrum, and she _knew_  something was coming.

               “We need to leave,” Bonnie said.  “Caroline… oh my God, Caroline, are you okay?”

               Caroline felt confused as she looked at Bonnie, and then at Enzo.  Both of them held her arms, and she realized that if it weren’t for them, she would’ve toppled from her chair.  She  frowned, when Bonnie ran a handkerchief under her nose and it came away red.

               Was she bleeding?

               She touched her upper lip, and yes, that was  blood. 

               The thrumming grew stronger, and now her bones hurt too.

               “What did you do?” Bonnie demanded, glaring at her cousin.

               “Erana was a fool.  The time of the God Slayers is over, Bonnie.  Maybe once this one is dead, the Fates will finally agree.”

               “Something’s coming,” Caroline murmured, and the approaching power seemed to crash into her, her eyes rolling into her head.

               She vaguely wondered if they would keep holding  her up as darkness washed over her.

\---

               There was something wrong.

               He had felt it all day, and had let it lure him out of his cavern, into the shadows created by the sun.  He had travelled along them, following the thrumming bond that lie between him and Caroline.

               He wondered if she had noticed it yet, this magical tie between them.  And that had set his temper off all the more, because how dare she act as though he were nothing to her, when there was this tie so clearly between them.

               Yet despite his anger, he followed that bond, unease making his shadows branch further than  was natural.

               He knew of the town of Eresthem, simply because  it was the stronghold of the Bennett family. 

               Erana’s family.

               He wondered who remembered that, that the last true God Slayer had been a Bennett.  He’d heard whispers of one since then, a  creature that had actually turned a Bennett over for helping her. It served the whelp right, that she’d ended as dead as the woman who’d helped her.

               Still, Eresthem had survived this long, and a Bennett still always called it home.

               Klaus watched it, and knew Caroline was there, somewhere, and still couldn’t say why he felt so uneasy.  Until he smelled it.

               _Sage_.

               For preventing eavesdropping, and hiding magic.  Why did he smell it, though?

               The crash of power took him by surprise, and came as the bone gave a sharp thrum, and then seemed to dampen.

               Something had happened to Caroline.

               The townspeople were already panicking from the intial power wave – Finn’s, Klaus realized now – and the uproar increased when Klaus’ shadows came in on a wave.  Finn might inspire fear, but for anyone that remembered the tales of the Son of the Moon… Klaus inspired _terror_.

               “Well, the bastard arrives.”

               Klaus bared his teeth as he landed before the remains of a cottage.  A woman’s body was impaled across the yard, her head  slack.  Another woman was struggling to her feet with the assistance of a dark haired man with a sword.

               He saw that rapidly, then focused his attention on the others.

               Finn, of  course.  And Mikael, the one who had spoken.  And in Mikael’s arms?

               Caroline’s limp form.

               “You’re still alive,” Klaus commented, keeping his expression derisive, determined not to let Mikael know what he held in his arms.  “Esther  shared her life with you… of course she did. It probably amused her, to keep you alive based solely on her whims.  I would have thought your pride would have left you dead, however.”

               “You know nothing, bastard.”

               “ _Immortal_ bastard,” Klaus corrected. “That was always the important part.  Even rutting with  a Goddess couldn’t get you the most powerful children. Not when she turned around and did the same with a Child of the Moon.   Can’t say I blame her. I imagine your presence got tedious for the poor bitch.”

               “Shut your filthy mouth.  Your mother is better than you’ll ever be.  She saw her mistake quickly, didn’t she?”

               “She saw that  Ansel would never bow to her, not in the way she liked.  You on the other hand? You happily turned over and showed your belly for a taste of power, didn’t you Mikael?”

               “And is that what your whore did?” Mikael jerked a knife against Caroline’s throat, and a thin line of blood ran down its length.  Klaus jolted sharply, a step towards Mikael before  he could stop himself, and he mentally cursed as Mikael laughed. “Did you think I didn’t know?”

               “Don’t you mean Esther?” Klaus replied. “ _Esther_ knew.  You were just sent as her dog.”

               “Take care of him,” Mikael ordered Finn, stepping back so his son could stand between him and Klaus. “I will take the girl to your mother.”

               “Fuck. You.”

               “What did you say?” Mikael demanded of Klaus, but Klaus hadn’t spoken at all.

               “Hit the ground!” the strange man bellowed  from behind him.  Klaus  didn’t know why he did as he was told – it surely wasn’t because a _mortal_ had said to do so.

               But his bond with Caroline had felt… _hot_. And as his stomach hit that ground, that heat passed just inches above her. When he looked up, it was to a glorious sight.

               Caroline stood alone, and Mikael and Finn were just  crispy  husks.  She blinked, as if she didn’t  quite understand what she was seeing.  Finn would heal, of course – Klaus could already see the signs that  he was  doing so – and as for Mikael… who knew? Perhaps, if Esther willed it, he would heal as well.

               Klaus didn’t give a damn.

               He was at Caroline’s side in a moment, taking  her into his arms as her legs gave out.

               “He wanted you dead,” Caroline  murmured, looking up at him with a dazed expression. “It was like I could _feel_ it. And he wanted you dead.”’

               Dark… or light? Both elements  drew power from similar places, and both would allow her to feel what Mikael did, should she wish.

               “It doesn’t matter, Love.  We’re together. Mikael  will not lay a hand on you again.”

               “Bonnie and  Enzo.” She tried to struggle from his arms, but she couldn’t.  He didn’t even need to attempt to stop her; she simply didn’t have the strength. “Please. They need to be okay.”

               She went limp again, and Klaus stood with her cradled in his arms. He looked at the man and woman – Enzo and Bonnie, he assumed.  He intended to leave them, but even unconscious the bond flared.

               For her to care enough to affect the bond while unconscious… leaving  them behind wasn’t an option. Klaus sighed heavily.

               “Well, come on, then.  Finn won’t stay like that forever.”

               “Wait… I…” Bonnie looked  back at the dead woman, and Klaus rolled his eyes.

               “If you want to bury her, you’ll do it alone, and it will probably cost you your life. At the moment, I’m the only member of my family that has any reason to wish to keep you alive.  So what will it be… Bonnie?”

               Enzo reached  down and squeezed her hand, making Bonnie turn her glare from Klaus to him, where it softened. When she looked back at Caroline’s limp form, it softened further.

               “Can we trust you?” she asked, as they stepped into the shadows that ringed around Klaus.  He laughed, because that might possibly be the best joke he’d ever heard.

               “Not at all… the only one that can do that is Caroline.”

               “Well… I trust her.” Bonnie  looked him in the eye, as though daring him to scoff.  Klaus  didn’t.  He already knew they were important to his soulmate.  “So, I guess that means we’re on the same team.”

               Klaus sneered, but he didn’t deny it.

\---

               Caroline opened her eyes to darkness.

               At first, she stiffened in terror.  The last thing she remembered was Lucy’s cottage, and the power hitting her.  After that, everything was blurry.  But she could, vaguely, remember feeling safe at the very end.

               That memory made her body relax, and slowly her eyes adjusted to the dark, until she realized she was sprawled on a far too familiar bed.

               The bed from her dreams.

               Klaus, however, was nowhere to be found, and she felt her nose wrinkle and she looked around.  She had woken into the room alone before, but never had it been dark like that, and Klaus had always appeared just seconds after her.  Sitting up, she ran her hands down the cloth, and wondered what weirdly named source it had come from.  Probably something ridiculous, like the flummox plant or something.

               She was never going to learn all of that.  It was basically relearning things she had taken for granted from childhood.  It was ridiculous.

               She realized she was nibbling on her thumbnail as she contemplated things, and she dropped her hand in disgust.  She hadn’t chewed her nails in, like, forever, and she refused to start now.  If the death of _both_ of her parents hadn’t made her go back to the habit, then _this_ wouldn’t either.

               “Now, do I dare ask what’s put that look on your face?”

               Caroline blinked in the direction of Klaus’ voice.  She could just make out the outline of his form as he moved towards her and the bed. 

               “Do you not have any lights in this place?” she asked him.

               “We’re not on Earth anymore, Caroline Love.  I’m afraid that electric lighting is one of the things we lack here.  You have something just as good at your disposal.  You need only use it.”

               He had come close enough that she could make out his features, even in the dark, and sat next to her on the bed.  She sighed and pulled up a knee, resting her chin on it.

               “If you mean my fire… first off, fire will never be as good as electric lighting.  If it were, we wouldn’t have advanced past fire.  And second, unless you want me to light _everything_ up, that’s pretty much a no go zone these days.  I thought you said fire should be easier than air.”

               “Are you saying it’s not?” Klaus replied with a brow.  “Have you managed to start a tempest with ease, the way you caused that explosion?  I would say fire _is_ easier for you.  The problem is that you’re putting the same amount of energy into summoning flame as you did the breeze when you don’t need to.”

               He moved, and Caroline found herself sitting with her back flush to his chest, his legs on either side of her.  She felt her heart beat speed up, and she swore that his did as well, though it was ridiculous to make that assumption when she couldn’t actually touch his pulse.

               “You know, our fight means that you shouldn’t be so familiar with me, or whatever you guys in, like, the ancient times call it,” she murmured, her breath catching briefly as he lowered his chin to her shoulder, his breath making her hair move slightly.

               “This is the best way to teach you, Love.  But if you prefer not to learn…”

               “No, I want to,” she blurted out, and then felt her cheeks heat when he chuckled against her ear.  “I just feel like it’s probably bullshit that this is the only way.”

               “I said _best_ way,” Klaus replied, his lips grazing the shell of her ear.  “Now look at your palms.”

               Caroline did as he said, and he reached his own hands out, trailing his fingers down her arms and wrist until he cradled her hands with his.

               “You know how the fire feels within you, now imagine it heating your palms.  Not starting a flame, simply heat.”

               Caroline didn’t want to admit it, but it was so much _easier_ , when he was there, murmuring instructions in her ear.  She felt relaxed, in ways she never was in the wagon, and her body all but melted into his as she heated her palms, making the skin glow orange with an odd, inner light… then her arms, until her whole body glowed with that light.

               It lit the room as well, and she turned her head to look at Klaus.  He was still staring down at their entwined hands, but as if he could sense her eyes on him, he lifted his gaze to meet hers.  His eyes were blue, rather than that eerie yellow they had been last time.  And his lips were quirked into a small, pleased smile.  The light she emanated gave his face a warm glow, and Caroline felt her breath catch.

               He was stupidly, ridiculously beautiful in that lighting.

               “Why did you bring me here?” she’d asked the question in various ways, but he had yet to give her the full truth.

               “I don’t believe you’re ready to hear that yet, Love.  Best leave it at you being the only hope for killing my mother.”

               “Matricide… romantic, but no. Pretend for a second Klaus, that I _can_ handle it.  _Why did you bring me here_?”

               Klaus cradled her hands in his, and pulled one up to rest it against his cheek.  It was romance novel levels of cheesy romanticness, but for the first time Caroline thought that those cliché moments maybe weren’t as ridiculous as she once thought.  Because her lungs didn’t quite seem to be working right, as he ran her hand over his cheek, and then turned his head into it, and pressed a kiss into her palm.

               She swallowed, unable to look away from the gaze that remained on hers.

               “Because you are mine.  And I am yours.  We were created for each other, and I would have destroyed both our worlds and created us a new one, just so we could be together.”

               Caroline’s breath caught again, and she slowly turned in his embrace, until she was straddling him.  He dropped her hand as she moved, and she cupped his cheeks.  He closed his eyes, as though reveling in the warmth she still emanated.

               “I’m still angry at you,” she stated, and his eyes snapped open, his irises turning yellow.  Before he could say anything that could piss them both off, she pressed her lips to his.

               It was scorching, more scorching than any of their other touches, which seemed beyond ridiculous.  This man had been _in_ her, yet it was this kiss that felt like their first one.

               In a way, it was.  He was _here_ and real… and for the first time, Caroline didn’t have to be worried about the kiss ending because she woke up.

               “Caroline,” he groaned into her neck when the kiss broke.  She held him, her hands stroking through his hair, and she watched her skin as she slowly willed the heat away.  “What am I going to do with you?”

               “I don’t know,” Caroline replied.  “I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with _you_.”

               He tried to kiss her again, but she dodged, and removed herself from the bed.  She rubbed her hands on her arms, cool now that she’d willed her fire away, and frowned thoughtfully back at him, where he remained on the bed, nearly pouting at her.

               “Where are Bonnie and Enzo?” she asked, and then, immediately on the question, came a terrible thought.  “You didn’t _kill_ them, did you?”

               “No,” Klaus muttered, flopping back and resting an arm over his eyes.  “I thought about it.  But I figured there were some things you may never forgive me for.  At least not for a century or two.  I didn’t particularly want to deal with that.”

               “Good, since I don’t have a century or two.  Human, remember?”

               Klaus gave a non-committal shrug. Caroline didn’t like that non-committal shrug.  That shrug probably meant he was plotting… and the last time he plotted she wound up without electricity.

               “Klaus…”

               “Your friends are in the main cavern.  Which is really just a large, empty space that they probably find incredibly boring.  But I can’t say that I particularly care about them, so…” Klaus shot to his feet and gave another shrug as he turned her, and gently led her out of the room – _cavern_ \- with the bed.  “Truthfully, most of these caverns are empty.  I didn’t tend to spend much time here in the past.  I’ve become a bit of shut-in, though, so I should probably get a library.”

               “You live in caves?” Caroline asked, her voice flat.  “That’s so… not gonna work for me.”

               Klaus’ teeth flashed in what could only be called a victorious grin, and Caroline realized that had been exactly what he had wanted to hear.

               It was an admittance, that maybe she would stick around.

               “Oh, go fuck a dog,” she muttered darkly, stomping ahead of him.  He could take his victorious grins elsewhere, thank-you very much.  She hadn’t decided _anything_ yet. And she wouldn’t, not until she figured out what the hell her role was in this world.

               “You missed your turn,” Klaus remarked as he strolled after her.  She looked back at where he had halted next to a fork in the stupid tunnels.  One of his hands was in his pocket, the other pointed down the other tunnel.  “Your friends are this way.”

               Caroline stomped back, and followed his finger.

               “You know,” he continued, as though they were actually getting along or something.  “Your language is interesting.  Is it common for humans to… fuck a dog, was it?  It seems rather unpleasant.”

               “It’s a figure of speech, Klaus.  It means you’re a jerk and I hate you.”

               “Ah, so it’s also common for you to lie.  I’ll remember that.”

               Caroline gritted her teeth and bit back yet more unpleasant things he could do with a dog.  Thankfully, the tunnel opened up into a much larger cavern, even larger than the bed room had been, and there were Bonnie and Enzo, perched on rocks that looked like they had to be uncomfortable.

               “Oh, thank God,” Caroline said, and she leapt forward, grabbing both of them in a hug.  “I couldn’t remember anything that happened at Lucy’s.  I was afraid you might be dead.”

               Bonnie hugged her back, her embrace warm and comforting, while Enzo patted her on the head, an action that made Caroline roll her eyes at him.

               “We’re fine,” Bonnie assured her.  But her smile was brittle, and her eyes were rimmed in red, as if she’d been crying.

               “Oh no… Lucy?” Caroline asked, a knot of guilt in her chest.  Yet another Bennett lost to a God Slayer.  It seemed to be a bit of a pattern.

               “It’s stupid, isn’t it? She betrayed us, yet I still can’t seem to stop crying.”

               Caroline just let go of Enzo, so she could squeeze Bonnie even tighter.  She understood that.  Hadn’t she felt as if her father had betrayed her? Picked a new life and a new family over the one he’d had in Mystic Falls.  Despite that, it had still been a crushing blow when he had died.

               “I’m sorry,” Caroline murmured.

               “Not your fault.  She should have known better than to involve my mother.  Abigail Bennett never met someone she wouldn’t betray, even if that someone is a relative.”

               There was a wealth of bitterness in that statement, and Caroline got that, too.  She could write the book on dysfunctional relationships with your parents.  Both of them had died with a lot left unspoken between them and their daughter, something Caroline would always regret.

               “What do we do now?” Enzo asked.  His gaze was zeroed in over Caroline’s head; focused in on Klaus, she assumed.  “I’m not exactly sure I feel comfortable depending on your boyfriend’s good will, Gorgeous.”

               “Then by all means,” Klaus replied, his tone entirely too pleasant.  “Feel free to leave.  In this situation, you’re what’s known as excess baggage.  _Unneeded_.”

               “Ignore him,” Caroline said, reaching out to squeeze Enzo’s hand.  “ _I_ need you.  And since at the moment, it appears this whole thing sort of revolves around me… that means other opinions are what’s _unneeded_.”

               She considered turning around, just so she could glare at the stupid, annoying jerk, but that would mean giving him entirely too much attention.

               He didn’t deserve her attention.

               “Tell me, Love,” Klaus said when it was clear Caroline wasn’t going to add anything to her statement.  “How exactly will a mercenary of minimal magical power be of assistance against my family of Demi Gods, let alone my _Goddess of a mother_?” A long pause, and then… “Unless it’s as cannon fodder.  I can see him being of use in that role.”

               “Everyone has their uses, Klaus!” Caroline snapped, finally letting go of Bonnie so she could turn on the man.  “You don’t have to know up front what that use will be!  Sometimes, it ends up just that being around them makes you happier than when you are not, and that still means they’re useful!”

               Klaus blinked at her, and Caroline glared, her hands on her hips.

               “I’m happier when you’re around than when you’re not,” he said after a moment, and Caroline pursed her lips, half pleased and half sure he’d entirely missed her point.

               “He isn’t human, Caroline,” Bonnie said, her voice half exasperated.  “Trying to get him to view the world through the lense of human morality is… pointless.”

               “Your healer friend is correct,” Klaus agreed.  “To be perfectly honest, before you the entire spectrum of mortals could have been eradicated and I wouldn’t have particularly cared.”

               “Wait… how do you know that they’re a mercenary and a healer?” Caroline demanded, her eyes narrowing.  “Were you… were you _spying_ on me!?”

               “No,” Klaus replied slowly, and she got the feeling he was rather exasperated.  “Honestly, Love, you’ve been unconscious for hours.  I _asked_ them.  The small talk was inane and incredibly boring, but I thought perhaps they may be of some use.  The healer could be.  Even Immortals can be injured.”

               “You spoke to us for five minutes before you left,” Bonnie responded, her voice cool.  “I don’t quite see how we could have bored you in five minutes.”

               “I don’t care about you in the least,” Klaus replied, his tone just as cool.  “Disinterest leads you to being boring.”

               “Okay… we’re leaving,” Caroline decided, turning back towards Bonnie and Enzo.  “I know our first attempt at getting help was, like, a spectacular failure, but do you know anyone that knows anything about elemental magic?  Because I still have four left to figure out even the basics of, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have a lot of time to do that in.  I mean, we _were_ attacked at Lucy’s, right?”

               “Yes, by _his_ brother and father,” Enzo replied, nodding at Klaus.  “Unpleasant pair, you don’t remember?”

               Caroline bit her lip, but beyond that power all she remembered was…

               “One of them hated me.  Like, a lot.  Like, a serious lot, considering I don’t even know their names.  Oh God… your family hates me.” She spun to look at Klaus.  “Your family totally hates me, and you want them to be my _in-laws_?”

               “They hate me as well.  I’m hardly asking you to spend time with them at the Harvest Festival, Caroline.”

               “No. You’re asking me to _kill_ them, which is _worse_!”

               “Esther. I’m asking you to kill _Esther_.  Once she’s dead, that should take care of Mikael.” Klaus looked thoughtful for a moment, and his fingers drummed on his thigh.  “Finn may also have to go.  And the young one, of course… Henry? Harry?  I know it was an H…”

               “You don’t know your brother’s name?” Caroline asked, not imagining a world where someone had a sibling and didn’t know their _name_.  She would have killed for a sibling, and had always been jealous that Elena had had Jeremy.  “You are so beyond messed up.”

               “Well, he wasn’t born when Esther banished me to sleep, was he?” Klaus replied, his brow furrowing.  “You’re overreacting, Love.”

               “It’s Henrik,” Bonnie said with a heavy sigh.  “He controls light, which makes him the exact opposite of Klaus there, so yeah, I kind of get why he might want him dead.”

               “It makes sense,” Enzo agreed.  “Have some kid that can heal everyone’s emotional wounds, then it means Klaus’ nightmares won’t have much power, doesn’t it?”

               Caroline stared at her friends, then at Klaus, then back at her friends.  In what world, was wanting to kill your own brother _reasonable_? For any reason?

               This one apparently.

               She laughed.

               Then she had to sit down, because the force of her laughter was hurting her stomach.

               Then she laughed some more.

\---

               Rebekah felt uneasy as she looked at the shadows.  They didn’t quite engulf the caverns, but they came close.  She knew what her mother wanted her to do.

               _Destroy them, Rebekah.  Destroy them before they destroy us._

And the girl Nik had brought to this world _could_ destroy them.  It made Rebekah want to throw an angry fit.  Her brother had finally woken once more, only he was in a foul mood and determined to destroy them all.  It wasn’t fair!

               She hadn’t been the one to put him into that damned sleep, after all.

               But, her mother had given her the orders, and just like when she had commanded they not interfere all those centuries ago… well, Rebekah was a Demi Goddess, powerful in her own right, but she didn’t compare to the Goddess of the World.

               If Esther said jump, Rebekah said how high.

               She allowed herself a moment to wonder what Klaus’ God Slayer’s abilities might be.  Had she been water, like Rebekah herself?  It might have been nice, to know a fellow Sea Dweller. 

               But no.  A Water God Slayer would be dangerous to Rebekah, and if this girl had such a power, Esther would have sent someone else.  Mostly likely Elijah, to choke the water out with Earth.

               Rebekah took another moment to feel pity for her brother.  If this girl was what had heralded his return, then she was his soulmate.  The curse Esther had cast had been very specific in that.  But Nik wouldn’t know what to do with a soulmate anyways.  He would probably destroy her, before making her happy, so perhaps this was better anyways.

               A quick death, rather than slow misery for them both.

               Either way, Nik would survive Rebekah’s attack.  The mortal though?

               The sea sung in her veins as she pulled the power of the ocean into her.   She would fill Nik’s cavern to the brim, and no mere mortal would survive, not even his little God Slayer.

               The tsunami hit true.


	3. Henrik

“You knew that was coming.”

               Caroline perched next to Klaus amongst the stones across the bay from his caverns.  Bonnie and Enzo nearby, staring in shock at the tsunami that hit.  It sent waves rushing towards them, but Klaus had taken them high enough that they were just hit by spray, not engulfed.

               It had been so sudden.  One moment, she had been arguing morality with him, the next she had _known_ they needed to leave, with a bone deep certainty.

               “Didn’t you?” she asked, looking to him.  “It’s your sister, right? Rebekah?”

               She had reached the chapter on water, and Erana had seemed to be somewhat in awe of the Sea Goddess, despite her distaste for anyone that controlled an element besides air.  Looking at the tsunami Rebekah could summon, Caroline wasn’t sure she blamed her.

               “I knew she was nearby.  I didn’t sense the attack.” Klaus looked troubled by that.  “I thought they had grown weak since my sleep, with how easy they fell victim to my nightmares.  Perhaps they grew powerful in other ways.  No matter” – his gaze focused down, and Caroline looked into the ocean, trying to see what he did.  But all she saw was swirling waves – “she’ll regret her betrayal.  Just as I swore she would.”

               Rebekah was down there somewhere, Caroline realized, and Klaus could _see_ her.

               The shadows that seemed as much a part of him as his skin writhed, and his eyes turned gold.

               “Stop!” she said, putting herself between him and his view of the water.

               “Caroline, she just tried to kill us,” Bonnie pointed out, and she probably sounded a lot more rational than Caroline did… but she also didn’t _get_ it.

               Killing siblings just… wasn’t something you did.  Not in Caroline’s mind.

               “I know what she just tried to do, but what if… look, are you close to _any_ of your siblings?”

               “Yes. Rebekah,” Klaus replied shortly.  “And you’re currently interfering in our sibling spat. It’s quite rude, Love.”

               Caroline let out her breath slowly, and counted backwards from ten. 

               It didn’t really help anything.

               “What if… what if you could make peace with her instead of using your… _nightmares_? I mean, water – she could probably help me to learn it and stuff.”

               “And then watch as you use it to kill her mother?  Gorgeous, sometimes you just need to let the God siblings fight.” Enzo stepped up, grasped Caroline’s shoulders, and drew her out of Klaus’ line of vision.  “Please mate, have at it.”

               Klaus grinned, and then froze when Caroline looked at him.  When she was a child, she had mastered what she called the pitiful look.  You sort of hunched your shoulders, and hung your head just enough to look sad, but not to break eye contact.

               And she’d learned to make tears appear on demand.

               It was super effective against her parents, already guilt-ridden because their marriage was falling apart and the biggest victim was their daughter.  The way Klaus’ grin faded said it might be super effective on him as well.

               Score for the pitiful look.

               “Love,” he said, his own shoulders hunching, as though he could somehow avoid that look.  “You don’t understand.  My family isn’t… they aren’t _mortal_.  Attempted murder is just another argument for us.  To them, killing you wouldn’t destroy our family.  It would just cause a brief split.  Hell, Rebekah will be here on Esther’s commands, and she’ll still expect me to forgive her in a century or two.”

               “Oh,” Caroline hesitated and looked back at the ocean.  Truth be told, Rebekah’s tsunami _had_ been made to kill… and like she’d told Bonnie, she was a survivor.

               At the same time, she needed allies.  Allies that could actually stand up to Esther.  Because Caroline wasn’t going to be a well-oiled God Slaying machine any time soon.  And she’d need to be, before she could face down the freaking Goddess of the World.

               “I can’t spend the rest of my life on the run,” she told Klaus after a moment.  She bit her lip as she looked down into the water, trying to pick out where Rebekah would be.  “Is there _any_ chance we could make peace with her, Klaus? Like, one less Mikaelson sibling trying to kill me – yay!”

               “That is a valid point,” Bonnie pointed out.  “She… might actually be making sense.”

               Caroline rolled her eyes in irritation, because okay, maybe some of her wanting to make peace was because she had an actual moral code, but of course she had _other_ reasons to want it.  She wasn’t, in fact, an idiot!

               Klaus heaved a sigh and stepped to the edge of the rocks.

               “Bekah!” he roared out, loud enough that it could be heard even over the waves that still crashed thanks to Rebekah’s tsunami.  “Little sister, come out and play!  If you’re going to send a bloody tsunami at me, the least you can do is look me in the eye while you do so!”

               “I said _peace_ , Klaus, not dare her to attempt murder again!”

               “Oh, you got out.”

               Caroline gaped as the water lifted from the sea, bringing a blonde woman up to their level.  And was that a tail?

               Was Rebekah a freaking _mermaid_?

               “It’s rude to stare, you know,” Rebekah said with a sneer, and it took Caroline a moment to realize she was talking to her.  She’d been too busy staring at the tail.

               Oops.

               “I’ve never seen a mermaid?” Caroline offered up weakly, giving what she hoped was a somewhat winning smile.

               “I’m a Demi-Goddess, little mortal.  Not a mermaid, whatever that is.” Rebekah tossed her hair and looked back at Klaus. “Lord, Nik, if you had to bring a God Slayer, couldn’t you have at least made it an intelligent one?”

               “Careful, Bekah,” Klaus warned.  “At the moment, the only one staying my hand is that God Slayer.  You tried to kill her.”

               “Of course I did, Nik. For Heaven’s sake, she kills beings like us. Even if mother hadn’t given me a direct order, I’d want the creature dead.  Although, she’s obviously not a Water God Slayer.” Rebekah gave Caroline a quick, victorious smirk.  “So I suppose she’s of no danger to _me_.”

               Elena and Jeremy hadn’t argued the way that Klaus and Rebekah did, but she supposed that when you had forever to hold grudges that sibling dynamics would be somewhat different. Still, the way they sniped at each other kept them distracted, so Caroline could sidle over and inspect the wave that held Rebekah aloft.

               She reached out to poke at it with her magic, and both magic and wave recoiled.  It made sense, she supposed.  Fire had come so naturally… water wouldn’t be nearly so easy.

               It made Caroline think of a biology professor she’d had.  He’d told her to drop his course, because Caroline had done terrible on that first midterm.  He’d figured something like the social sciences would be a better fit.  Caroline hadn’t liked the insinuations in that – both that social sciences were somehow _less_ and that Caroline wasn’t smart enough for his tough course.

               He’d been forced to give her extra points on the final, because not only had Caroline aced it, but she’d found a mistake that he’d made.

               Caroline Forbes never let a challenge beat her.

               She reached out again, this time with more force.  She didn’t care that moisture spread on her forehead – whether from the sea itself or sweat, not even she was sure.  This water was going to bend to _her_ will, even if it killed them both.

               And since water couldn’t die, then neither of them would.  So it would damn well do as Caroline told it to.

               “What the bloody hell is she doi – ack!”

               Caroline blinked in surprise at the air, as the wave suddenly retreated into the water under the force of power.  Of course, she hadn’t really thought about what the results of that would be.

               Rebekah fell several dozen feet into the ocean with it.      

               “Oh… oops.”

               “ _Oops_ , Caroline? _Oops_?” Bonnie rushed to her side, and tugged her back as the water swirled up again, an incredibly angry Rebekah riding it up.

               “You little bitch!” she roared as she loomed over them.

               “I thought it would take longer for you to learn that one,” Klaus admitted.  He grasped Caroline’s wrist, the contact sending goosebumps up her arm, and eased her behind him, so he stood between her and the angry Demi-Goddess.  “You have to be impressed, Bekah.  Her natural element is fire, and she hasn’t even mastered the others yet, so even being able to touch your water is… well, I’m impressed.”

               “You brought the _God Slayer of the World_ to our realm?” Rebekah shrieked. “She can kill us all, Nik!”

               “Yes, but the only one she’s going to kill is our mother.”

               Again, Klaus spoke of matricide as if it were nothing, and if Caroline ended up part of this family – and dammit, she was crazy for considering it, but when Klaus was so close and so _warm_ it was hard not too – she was going to avoid family reunions like the plague.  Especially if she did succeed in killing Esther.  Killing your mother-in-law probably meant you were allowed to avoid the family, right?

               “ _He_ wants me to kill her,” Caroline added from behind Klaus.  “I’m not sure I want to kill anyone yet, honestly.  I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”

               Rebekah’s face remained in a twisted mask of rage for another heartbeat, and then the water retreated, leaving her to lounge on the stone and stare up at them.

               “Bloody Hell, Nik, but she’s not blood thirsty enough to be the God Slayer of the World.”              

               Klaus looked over his shoulder at Caroline, who gave a slightly helpless shrug.  Maybe she should have been a little more frightened, but she was beginning to think that this entire situation was just too bizarre for that.  Or maybe she was just becoming desensitized.

               “It’s a work in progress,” he admitted.

\---

               Caroline had felt Rebekah, in the same way she had felt Mikael and Finn, and he wondered if she realized what that meant yet.

               Esther was blocking them from his own sense, but that ability to reach out and detect others… light or dark, dark or light.  It made no difference, the ability came from the same source.

               But had Esther protected them from _him_ in particular? Or from Dark Mages in general?

               He looked to where Caroline knelt on the stones, speaking to his sister.  Her expression was carefully neutral, and the clever girl allowed both Bonnie and Enzo to sit between him and Rebekah.  Smart choice.  Rebekah’s mood could be mercurial, and she could decide at any moment to see if Caroline’s tentative hold on her element allowed her to survive the sea that roiled beneath them.

               “I’ll teach you,” Rebekah declared at last, drawing Klaus from his thoughts.  “ _Not_ because I particularly like you, but because I rather like the thought of freedom from my mother.  But I won’t teach you to control the sea as well as I can.  You can use other elements to kill her.  I’ll stay alive, thank-you.”

               “Don’t I need to master them all, to stand a chance against Esther?” Caroline asked carefully.

               “A passing control in water will be fine.  Esther’s specialty is Air.  It’s why she treats Finn like a favored pet, and that fool of a Bennett Erana thought she could defeat her.” Rebekah snorted derisively, while Caroline shot Bonnie a quick, surprised look.  Interesting… obviously, the Bennett healer hadn’t explained to Caroline her blood ties to the last God Slayer.  “So long as you can block any attempt she makes to use water against you, you needn’t be as proficient as I am.”

               “Why do I feel like you are, like, the worst choice for teacher ever?”

               “Oh, I’m sorry, is there another offer on the table?” When Caroline remained silent, Rebekah smirked in victory.  “That’s what I thought.  Elijah has a manor across the bay.  We’ll meet there.”

               “We’re not going into Elijah’s territory,” Klaus said immediately, his spine stiffening.  Just the thought on going onto the ground Elijah called his own…”

               Their ever steady brother’s element was Earth, and he controlled none so much as that which he claimed ownership over.  Even with Klaus’ shadows and Caroline’s growing powers, entering Elijah’s grounds could be suicide.

               “Well, I destroyed your caverns, so you can hardly stay here,” Rebekah pointed out.

               “Yes… and do let me thank you for that sister.” Rebekah’s eyes widened as Klaus’s shadows loomed, and he smirked at her, hoping that the yellow he knew was overtaking his irises would make her _terrified_.

               A tugging on his pants made him look down into Caroline’s gaze.  On the surface, it appeared innocent, as though she didn’t realize he had been about to unleash his power on his sisters.  But there was a tilt to her lips, to her head, that said she knew exactly what she was doing.

               He growled in the back of his throat.

               “Elijah… another brother, right?  I’ve only read Air, Fire, and Water.  So Finn, Kol, and Rebekah, right?  And you said the H-brother was light.  So Earth, then?”

               “As steady and boring as you would expect,” Klaus acknowledged.  “Also incredibly loyal, but you’re never quite sure to which family member the loyalty is that day.”

               “That doesn’t really sound loyal at all.”

               “Oh, don’t be an ass, Nik,” Rebekah scoffed.  “His loyalty is to his _siblings_.  Always and forever… or have you forgotten that? I assure you, Elijah and I have not.”

               “Haven’t you?” Klaus asked silkily, smirking menacingly at his sister who looked at him so primly, as though _he_ were the traitor in their garden… when not one of their siblings had helped him all those centuries ago.

               They allowed him to be cursed to sleep.  Let Esther banish the soul of the person that would one day be his to an _entirely different world_.  It had taken him centuries to awaken himself enough to find her, and once he did?

               Once he did, they tried to kill her.

               Rage was a living creature in his blood, and he saw only one target for it: the traitorous sister that had _never_ had his back.  Her word was worthless and so was _she_.

               A warm hand rested over his heart, and the bond that tied him to Caroline thrummed with… was she trying to _comfort_ him.  He blinked at the blonde head that had filled his line of sight, and Caroline was looking at her hand on his chest, her brow furrowed, and her nose crinkled.  The freckles that were so rarely noticeable seemed to stand out when she did that, and he found himself fascinated by them, as he had been the first time he’d noticed them.

               He’d traced them with lips that night, and then traced the other freckles he’d found on her body with his tongue.  The memory sent heat through him, and it speared down the bond, making her jerk.

               When she looked up at him, her eyes were dark, her need matching his.

               They were also filled with a question.

               “They let her take you from me,” he growled out, the words torn from his throat.  “They let her send you to that place you didn’t belong.”

               “I survived,” she reminded him.  “I didn’t let anything in that world break me, despite its best attempts.”

               “You belong here,” Klaus said.  He meant for it to be a statement, but instead it came out a plea.  He _needed_ to hear it.  Would kneel before her, if only she would say it.  “You belong here with me.”

               Caroline swallowed, her fingers digging into his shirt.  He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her in.  He would find her anywhere, he was quite sure – there could be miles between them, but he would find her scent anywhere in the world.

               “I think I might,” she murmured, and Klaus froze, not quite believing what he had just heard.

               But then she buried a hand in his hair, and sighed, her entire body relaxing against him, and he knew he had heard true.

               His lips curved.

               “Hell, if our options are risking death with the other brother or watching _this_ , I choose death.  I don’t suppose you can give us a ride on your wave, Beautiful?”

               Enzo began sputtering, and Klaus pulled back from Caroline to see that he had been soaked by sea water, and Rebekah was gone.

               He looked out across the sea, saw the glint of her tail as she swam for Elijah’s manor.

               “We need to trust them, Klaus,” Caroline said, squeezing his hand with hers.  He looked at her, his jaw tight, but her gaze said she wouldn’t negotiate on this.  “Unless you know another family of Demi-Gods, the only thing that’s going to keep me alive long enough to be able to kill your mother, is your siblings.”

               She was right, but Klaus didn’t have to like that.

\---

               Caroline was pretty sure she had signed up for an eternity on top of those rocks, and she was trying really hard to think about it too hard.

               But Klaus… she hadn’t just _seen_ his rage, she had _felt_ it.  As real and as bright as if it had been her own, and she realized that she was probably signed up for eternity anyways, and at least this way she had some say in how that eternity would go.

               She was also, slowly, letting go of thoughts of returning back to her own world.

               And was that world even _hers_?

               Because she was starting to put together a picture, and that picture made it seem likely that she was never meant to belong to another world, and that she had was entirely Esther’s fault.  She knew there was no guarantee that a life _here_ would have been any better than the one _there_ … but just the thought of growing up with Bonnie and Enzo instead of Elena and Damon?

               It was enough to make her feel some rage of her own.

               They were, like, _real_ friends.  The kind Caroline had never had before.

               Even electricity wasn’t worth giving that up… not when it was in favor of what she had left.

               “Elijah,” she said, trying to get her mind off those depressing thoughts.  They were once more in a wagon, just the three of them.  Klaus was to meet them at the edge of Elijah’s land. He’d needed time to cool off, and this had seemed the best way to give it to him.  “What do you know about him?”

               “Earth magic, as you deduced – which, by the way, clever girl.” Caroline beamed at Enzo and the compliment, and he winked and turned back to the uneven path.

               “He’s supposed to be the pretty serious type,” Bonnie added.  “He’s known to be merciful, but ruthless.  Not exactly the type of guy you want to cross.  And rumor has it, once you enter his land you don’t leave unless he lets you.”

               Caroline gulped at that, and each step closer to Elijah’s land they took seemed a bit more terrifying.

               “You survived the temperamental sibling,” Enzo offered up.  “Well, one of them – Kol is supposed to be a blighter – but you survived Rebekah.  Elijah should be easier.”

               “Should bes don’t feel very certain right now,” Caroline muttered.  “The other one, Finn, tried to kill me.  I bet he’s not temperamental either, is he?”

               “No. He’s just a mama’s boy.”

               “How is so much known about them?” Caroline asked, curling her legs up and resting her chin on her knee.  “Where I come from, Gods are… well, they don’t exactly walk among us, y’know? We don’t even know if they’re real.  But here – they’re so… _there_.”

               “It’s a measurement of power,” Bonnie replied.  “Gods are so powerful that they live forever.  Unless a God Slayer kills one, of course.”

               “But… what’s the difference?” Caroline asked.  “If a God Slayer can kill a God, then aren’t they the same?”

               Bonnie let out a breath and leaned back, looking up towards the trees thoughtfully.

               “Honestly, I guess I’m not sure,” she admitted.  “I never really thought of it.  That’s just how it is – there are Gods to be feared, and God Slayers to kill them.”

               “Perhaps Erana will clarify that,” Enzo suggested. 

               “Yeah,” Caroline mused, looking down at the book that had somehow survived their adventures.  “Maybe.”

               She opened the book to Earth, because she might as well be prepared, and wondered what would come once she finished the Elements.  Was that when she would discover Esther, and The World?  And was it meant to be its own type of power?  World Magic?

               She could feel a headache forming.

               She had learned of the steadiness and reliability of the Earth – and how _boring_ its users were, which, when you considered the source, alarmed Caroline somewhat – when she felt him.

               “We’re there,” she said, at the same moment Klaus stepped out of the trees ahead.  The bond between them thrummed with happiness, and she stood, steadying herself by grabbing Enzo’s shoulder, to smile at him.

               “Are you ready to enter Elijah’s territory?” he asked them when Elijah pulled the wagon to a halt.

               “That depends,” Bonnie replied dryly.  “Is he also going to try and kill us?”

               “Possibly.  I suppose it depends on what Rebekah told him.  Don’t tell me that a mage of the Bennett line is afraid of a single Demi-God.”

               “Terrified.  I’m smart, you see.”

               “Well then, feel free to stay here.” Klaus gave her a gracious smile, and Bonnie scoffed.

               “You have terrible taste in men,” she informed Caroline, making Klaus growl.  Enzo winced, and jerked his hand across his throat to tell Bonnie to knock it off. Caroline just rolled her eyes.

               “We’re allies, guys.  Can we, I dunno, not be snarky at each other and stuff?”

               Bonnie and Klaus both just stared at her, and Caroline dropped back into the hay in the wagon.

               “Never mind.  Stupid request.”

               Klaus joined them in the wagon.  He didn’t pull Caroline into his arms, though he clearly wanted to, but he did sit close enough that their legs touched.  She let him maintain that contact, because it comforted her somewhat as well.

               And this was the first time she was willingly walking into the lair of one of his siblings.  It was so much worse than impromptu attempts on her life.

               “Stay close, Love,” Klaus murmured to her.  “And if you wish your friends to stay safe, tell them to do the same.”

               The manor was beautiful, its grounds kept immaculately, and there was something about it that terrified Caroline and made her want to flee.  But when she looked behind them, she realized the path they had been following was gone, replaced by trees and soft earth that the wagon would never cross successfully.

               “Elijah’s way of welcoming us,” Klaus murmured, his expression tight.  “I may have… threatened him, somewhat, on my awakening.”

               “That would have been good to know _before_ we drove up to his front gates,” Bonnie muttered, her grip on the side of the wagons so tight the skin of her knuckles whitened.

               “It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Caroline replied resolutely.  “We still need him to be our ally.  It just means that Klaus maybe shouldn’t do the talking.”

               “He is _my_ brother, Love.”

               “Yeah – beginning to think that makes everything worse!”

               She had been letting her magic drift into the earth beneath them, and when Klaus helped her out of the wagon, she imagined that all her power was in her feet, creating roots in the ground.

               Earth magic, she had read, was all about creating roots.  It began with a strong base, and once that was created, it could be unbreakable.

               “It is rude, Miss Forbes, to use your magic without first asking your host’s permission.”

               The man that walked towards them was the hero in every billionaire BDSM novel ever, and thinking of him as Christian Grey did nothing to make Caroline feel the least bit better about him.

               It really just upped the fact that something about him was sort of creepy.

               He was dressed immaculately, and she had to re-evaluate that initial opinion, because he was every billionaire in a BDSM novel that took place at the same time as _Pride & Prejudice_.

               “I was always taught it was rude to kidnap people, yet…” Caroline waved a hand towards the path that was now completely vanished. “Here we are.”

               “I never forced you to come here, so it’s hardly… _kidnapping_.”

               “It might as well be.” Caroline tilted her chin up and refused to step back when Elijah came to stand just a little closer than was polite.  “Is this where you try to kill me?  Because as it stands, your siblings are at two and O… we can make it three if you want.”

               “Confident,” Elijah mused, before turning to Klaus.  “You told me not to interfere, I haven’t. But bringing her here?  One could hardly fault me if I took the steps to please our mother and ensure she never left.”

               “Try it,” Klaus replied in that pleasant tone he seemed to be using more and more.  “You’re outnumbered.”

               “Ah, yes, an untrained God Slayer, a healer, and a mercenary… and then of course, you.  Only one of those gives me a hint of concern.”

               “I really hope it’s the God Slayer,” Caroline said, baring her teeth in a mockery of a grin.  She didn’t like being ignored, and she didn’t like Elijah.

               This was probably going to go to hell in a handbasket really fast.

               “You are a child,” Elijah said, in quite possibly the most condescending tone she’d ever heard.  Even worse than the prof that had tried to force her out of biology.

               Caroline bent down, slamming a hand into the ground.  The earth around Elijah rose up, covering him until he was entirely engulfed in stone and dirt.

               “I thought we were playing nice,” Klaus murmured in her ear.

               “I changed my mind,” Caroline replied grimly.  “Elijah is an ass.”

               The cocoon around him exploded apart, and the air was nearly knocked out of Caroline’s lungs as Klaus swung them around so quickly, his back protecting her from the debris, that she barely even realized he had moved.

               “Duck,” she said, and Klaus did so without questioning.  Roots burst from the ground beneath Elijah, wrapping around her arms, and she let the fire rise in her body, until it burst to life on her skin.  Elijah actually winced as the roots turned to ash and Caroline smirked.

               The problem when an Earth mage claimed land for their own?  It meant it truly became a part of them.

               “Let’s light it up,” she said, her gaze focused on Elijah as she let the fire go out of control and race behind her, right for the forest of Elijah’s creation.  She didn’t break eye contact with him, as she let the flames lick at the earth and trees. 

               She thought he might call her bluff, but then genuine fear blazed briefly in his gaze, and he broke eye contact.

               “I apologize for being so rude,” he gritted out as though the words pained him.

               “Apology accepted,” Caroline replied primly, but inside she was panicking.

               _How the hell do I stop the damn fire?_

As quick as the panicked thought rose, Klaus was at her back, and her breathing began to even out, until it was in time with his.

               He didn’t even speak, just breathed, and Caroline knew what she was meant to do.

               Inhale – think of the things that calmed her; a beach, a book, sitting on the hood of her car and just watching the sunrise.

               Exhale – let the calm dampen the flames, until they died.

               It took a few breaths, but the fire finally retreated, and Elijah stopped wincing, though he did slowly rub his hand over his chest, as though he still felt pain.

               “I really hope it’s the God Slayer,” she said again, her gaze focused on Elijah.  He maintained eye contact for a brief moment, then looked over her shoulder at the damage done to his forest.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, but his lips curled up ruefully.

               “Perhaps, Miss Forbes, there are _two_ of you that worry me.”

               “I damn well hope I’m not one,” Enzo muttered under his breath.  “I’m perfectly happy being unimportant to these people.”

               Caroline ignored him, although it did make her smile a bit.

               “Now… should we talk about killing your mother?”

               Another beat of silence, and another moment of eye contact, then Elijah motioned towards his home, every inch the gracious host.

               “Please, come into my parlour.”

\---

               _The dream was different._

_She wasn’t in the dark room made for sex, but instead a child’s paradise.  She sat cross legged on a floor carpeted in blue, and across from her sat a young boy with dark hair.  He didn’t look like Klaus, but somehow she knew this was another brother._

_“I’m Henrik,” he said with an easy smile._

_“Caroline,” she replied.  “You shouldn’t be in my dreams, Henrik.”_

_“Mother told me to.”_

_So was this Esther’s plan?  Have her son that looked like a child kill Caroline and hope that she wouldn’t fight back?_

_“But I didn’t bring her with me,” Henrik continued.  “She wanted me to, but it felt… wrong.”_

_“It is,” Caroline replied, and against her will she felt her suspicions of the boy fade.  Was it because he wore a child’s face?  Or because he controlled light, and this was just a gift?  “How old are you, Henrik?”_

_“I’m ten.”_

_“Ten… like, I dunno, ten_ thousand _?”_

_“No. Just ten.”_

_Well, shit.  He was really a kid._

_“How did you get into my dream, Henrik?”_

_“I used my power.  It was difficult.  You’re good at protecting yourself.  But I think you felt that I was like Klaus.”_

_Caroline didn’t say anything, and Henrik looked out the window, his expression sad._

_“He’s going to kill me.”_

_“He wants to,” Caroline acknowledged, because lying to him, even if he was a kid… that wouldn’t keep him alive._

_“If I promise to help you, would you stop him?”_

_“I want to kill your mother, Henrik.”_

_When he looked at her, his eyes were far older than a ten year old’s should be._

_“I know.”_

\---

               Elijah welcomed them into his house, but he otherwise avoided them. 

               That didn’t serve Caroline’s purposes at _all_. Not when she needed to know more about Henrik, and she knew that if she asked Rebekah, her questions would hardly be out before Klaus knew as well.

               That _also_ didn’t serve Caroline’s purposes.  Not when she was pretty sure he still fully intended to kill Henrik.

               Henrik, who was, apparently, _ten_.

               Yeah, killing him was _not_ going to be a thing Klaus did.  There was lacking human morality, and then there was straight up psychopathic child killing.  And Caroline had standards.  If she was going to be in this relationship for the long haul, then he would just have to suck it up and not kill children.

               It was non-negotiable.

               And that was why Caroline was searching for Elijah.  Because before she drew her line in the sand on the matter, she needed to make sure that Henrik wasn’t straight up lying.  Which was something she could see a Mikaelson sibling doing.

               They were all sort of awful.

               And then there was that other little niggling, because Henrik had been so solemn.  Solemn in a way that…

               She wouldn’t think about that just yet.

               She had been through most of the common areas of the manor that they had been introduced to.  When Elijah wasn’t found in any of them, she finally started opening doors at random.

               So far, she’d found, like, three portrait halls. Which seemed weird. But no Elijah.

               Biting back a sigh, she opened yet another door, not expecting any more luck on this room than she’d had with any of the others.

               “It’s rude, Miss Forbes, to enter a man’s study without knocking.”

               Caroline stared at Elijah, where he sat behind a large oak desk.  At least it looked like oak.  Who knew what it actually was.  Probably winwak wood or something like that.

               What _were_ the names of trees in this world?

               “Staring is also rude.”

               Caroline jolted out of her stupor and scowled at Elijah, who ignored her entirely to write with what appeared to be a freaking feather quill.

               Just looking at it made Caroline miss pens.

               “You have a hard on for manners, don’t you Elijah?” Caroline asked breezily, sweeping into the study and perching on the edge of the seat across the desk.  “Which is odd, considering that you’ve been terribly rude since our arrival.”  Elijah’s writing paused, just slightly, but it made Caroline grin to know that she’d hit her target.  “It’s rude to leave your guests without a host.”

               “Uninvited guests,” Elijah responded.  “And surely Niklaus has been entertaining you?”

               “Klaus is willing to entertain _me_.  He just sort of ignores Enzo and Bonnie unless he can glare at them.  But Bonnie found your library, so she’s perfectly happy for everyone to leave her the hell alone. Still, it’s rude.”

               Everyone in Mystic Falls would agree with her, too.  Even uninvited guests were treated like treasured neighbors.  Possibly even better than invited guests, because you wanted to make the assholes feel really bad for showing up without notice.

               No one did passive aggressive hosting liking a Virginian.

               “Miss Forbes, is there a purpose to your presence? Or did you simply come to berate me in my own house?”

               “I wouldn’t have _berated_ you if you weren’t acting all holier than thou, calling me rude.” Caroline leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.  “I need you to tell me about Henrik.”

               Elijah froze, and when he looked at Caroline his gaze was glacial.  It was so cold, that Caroline actually thought he might kill her in that moment, and toss her broken body at Klaus’ feet.

               “I’m not going to assist you and my mad brother in harming Henrik, God Slayer.  You can burn this house, my entire forest, to the ground.  But if there is one good thing in my family, it is that boy.  Niklaus may believe he’ll destroy him, but not one of us, not even Kol will allow him to.”

               “He has a room with a blue carpet, doesn’t he?  Ten years old.  Klaus’ dimples when he smiles.  That one threw me off a bit, not gonna lie.”

               Elijah got to his feet, his chair tumbling over backward with a loud thud.  Caroline refused to back down however.  She remained sitting, but she stiffened her spine, and she began to gather fire in her palms.

               No harm in being prepared.

               “How do you know any of that?” Elijah hissed, his eyes narrowing.

               “He came to me in my dreams.  Where is he, Elijah? And why would you ten year old brother be willing to help me kill his mother?” Caroline refused to take her eyes off of his, not when this was so important.  There had been a quietness to Henrik, a sort of stillness that Caroline had seen before.

               She had been like that, every time Damon had been in her apartment.

               “You lie-”

               “I think that Esther hurts him,” Caroline stated, and now she got to her feet, planting her hands on the desk.  “Or maybe Mikael.  Probably both of them, because it sounds like that’s how they’d get their jollies.  I think they hurt him, and all of you let them, because you’re so damn terrified of your mother that you won’t interfere, even for the little brother you claim to want to protect so much.”

               Elijah said nothing, but his expression wasn’t at all pleased.  He looked at Caroline, as if he wished he could crush her beneath his toes.

               Caroline didn’t care.  She had been hurt before.

               She hated that a little boy was being hurt too.

               “You know what, Elijah, stay here in this manor and act like you’re better than everyone.  But I’m going to help your brother.  Because everyone deserves to be helped.”

               No one had helped Caroline, no one but herself.

               And then, later, Klaus.

               She wondered if he knew that – how much he had helped her.  She doubted it, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to put it into words.

               So instead, she would help _him_. And she would help his younger brother.  And with enough time, he’d realize that by doing one, she’d done the other.

               And Elijah could fucking _rot_.

\---

               “My brother is in a foul mood,” Klaus remarked when he entered his room to find Caroline perched on his bed.  Elijah had left them to choose chambers for themselves, and they had taken separate ones… yet she hadn’t bothered to use hers in the two days since their arrival.

               It had been a sweet sort of torture, to hold her as she slept and no more.

               “You appear to be in an odd mood as well,” he observed, as Caroline looked thoughtfully out the window.  “You spoke with him.  Should I kill him?”

               Caroline looked at him and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.  There was an old hurt there.

               A hurt that had been fresh the first time he appeared in her dreams.  He still recalled that, the way she had flinched from him, even in dreams.  It had taken months of coaxing before she would so much as let him hold her hand.  But with time, those shadows had faded… but never disappeared, not entirely.

               How could they, when the very monster that had caused them slept in her home most nights?

               “He’s not here,” he murmured, coming to sit on the bed behind her.  He ran his lips down her neck, and she sighed and leaned into him.  “He’ll never be part of your life again.”

               “I guess he won’t,” Caroline murmured, her brow furrowing.  “He’s been the monster in my closet for so long, that it seems odd to think that I never have to see him again.”

               She turned in his arms and pushed on his chest.  Klaus went back, and Caroline kissed him, her lips hungry against his.  Her hair fell down around them, and he ran the strands through his fingers.  He loved her hair – like sunshine made life just for him.

               “Are you still angry at me?” he murmured into the kiss, and he felt her lips curve against his.

               “Yes.  I think it’s probably going to be a semi-permanent state.  But I bet angry sex will be hot, so it’ll probably just add some spice to our relationship.”

               “Is that what this is?” he asked, sitting up to let Caroline push his shirt off.  She nipped his chest, and then proceeded to press kisses down his torso.  “Angry sex?”

               “Trust me – when it’s angry sex, you won’t have to ask.” She kissed around his navel, and began to undo his pants.  “This is, like, lovemaking or something cheesy.”

               She released his cock and ran her tongue along the length.  She’d done this before, but what they had done in dreams couldn’t compare to the reality of Caroline hot mouth engulfing his tip, the way her tongue swirled around it.  She bobbed her head down, and jerked her hand at the base, and Klaus grasped the sheets and arched his back.

               He was very, very careful not to grab the back of her head. 

               His good behaviour was rewarded when she looked up at him with heavy eyes and swirled her tongue again, in the way she _knew_ made him pray for mercy.  He didn’t know who he was praying to – the Fates, maybe?  Or maybe the God of her world.

               Or maybe he was just praying to Caroline.

               She released his cock with a loud pop, kissing her way up his body again.

               “I want you to take me,” she murmured into his ear, and that was all the permission he needed.

               He flipped her onto her stomach, and lifted her hips, shoving her pants down around her knees.  She was already wet for him, because Caroline was forever sensitive, and she’d told him once that his reactions to her mouth made her horny.  At the time, it had been accompanied with blushes.  There were no blushes now – just the hot flush of lust.  It made her ears red as well, and he became even harder, just because he liked that he knew that about her.

               His first thrust was slow – painfully slow – and it left her cursing him, and Klaus clenching his teeth.  But he loved to tease her with that first thrust.  It made her even more energetic for the rest of it.  Her hips thrusting back restlessly, her hands clawing at the sheets as if she wanted to tear them apart.

               He held her hips and sped up his thrusts.  He should have taken off her shirt – he loved to watch her breasts as he moved in her – but he’d been too impatient.  Instead, he reached up under her loose tunic so he could play with one as he continued to thrust.

               His little God Slayer was vocal, entirely willing to ensure she enjoyed the sex as much as he did.

               It pleased him, that that didn’t change outside the dreams.

               “Faster,” she groaned, letting out a pleased hiss when he did exactly what she demanded.  “Ooh, do that again.”

               He twisted his hips, and her murmur was pure gratification. He adjusted them, so her back was flush to his chest, and it allowed him to tear away the front of her shirt, so he could see her breasts, and admire the way the flush of her arousal went down there as well.

               It also allowed him to stroke her nipples to hard, tight peaks.

               “Keep going,” she murmured, eagerly egging him on.  “Right there… right there…”

               She clenched tight around him, and the sensation made Klaus reach his orgasm as well.  She threw her head back against his shoulder, her expression pure bliss as she flexed and squeezed and milked his cock until all he could do was collapse on the mattress and take her with him.

               She curled against him, and let out a chuckle.

               “Should I be insulted that you’re laughing after that?” he asked, looking at her from beneath lids that had fallen to half-mast.

               “No, it’s relief.  I am _so_ happy we’re still good at this in reality.  It would have really sucked if we weren’t.”

               “I never doubted it.”

               Caroline huffed and rolled over so she could rest her arms on his chest and look up at him.  Klaus yawned, but looked at her, feeling suddenly suspicious.

               “You want something.”

               “That’s kind of rude.  I mean, it’s our first time and you think I boned you because I _want_ something?”

               “It’s hardly our first time, Caroline – and yes, the dreams count.  And I _know_ you.  You want something.”

               Caroline pouted, tracing a finger around his nipple.  She kicked off her pants, and then curled against him again.

               “I met Henrik.”

               Klaus started to catapult off the bed, but Caroline rolled onto him, and he was helpless to hurt her, so he found himself staying in place.  He did growl, though.

               She rolled his eyes.

               “Klaus, he’s ten.”

               The confession made him turn rigid.  He’d imagined the boy to be centuries old; after all, Mikael wouldn’t have wanted to wait to replace the banished bastard. 

               But _ten_?

               “It’s a lie.”

               “I thought so too, at first.  But look – he came in a dream, and he was just so… he has your dimples, you know.  And when I asked Elijah… he’s ten Klaus.  A child.”

               “He’s a danger.”

               Klaus carefully removed Caroline from his side and got to his feet.  He prowled to his satchel, gathering new clothes, his eyes on getting away from eyes that he just _knew_ were judging her.  But she didn’t understand.

               Ten or not, Henrik would be used against him.  It was the only reason Esther would have bothered to have that sixth child – the one that would be the opposite of Klaus.  He was her insurance policy.

               “They abuse him.”

               The words were like a lash to his back.  Initial instinct was to deny such a thing, but he couldn’t.  He knew Mikael capable of such a thing, and Esther wouldn’t care.  Even before the truth of his paternity had been revealed, Mikael had enjoyed hurting him.

               He’d always thought Esther had enjoyed that enjoyment.  The two deserved each other.

               “Did he tell you as much? Hoping to prey on your soft heart?”

               “No. He looked at me. And I knew.”

               Klaus slowly turned towards her.  She was still naked, but she was hugging her legs close to her chest.  How many times, had she done that in those early days, as though to give herself extra protection?

               He still denied it.  Came up with a million reasons why it was a lie, why she would be a fool to believe it.

               And throughout it all, Caroline just watched him, until he had no more arguments and could only sit on the edge of the bed.

               “We have to help him,” she murmured, pressing her naked chest to his back and wrapping her arms around him.  “No one deserves to be someone’s victim, Klaus.”

               They had both been victims; they knew the toll it could take, didn’t they?  Klaus closed his eyes.

               “He will be my ruin, Caroline.”

               “Only if you leave them with Esther and Mikael.”

               He argued, of course. 

               And she countered every argument.

               And in the end, she won.  Because he knew she was right.

               And so, they would save Henrik Mikaelson.

\---

               “So, this is the God Slayer that we’re all to trust not to kill us?  She’s a pretty one, isn’t she?” Even without being told, Caroline would have known the man in the library with Bonnie and Enzo was another Mikaelson.  His eyes promised trouble, and the grin he shot her was wicked.  “Tell me, Darling, if I pretend to be a tortured soul as well, will you toss Nik over for me?”

               “Klaus has never acted like a tortured soul with me,” Caroline replied dryly.  “Kol, I presume.”

               “Alive and in the flesh.  I hear we share an element.  I suppose if death were to come at _your_ hands, it might not be so terrible.  Will you at least grant me a final wish, though?”

               “He’s been like this with me – and Enzo,” Bonnie piped up from where she sat reading a ridiculously thick book.  “I think he’s kind of a whore.”

               “Miss Bennett, I am _hurt_ ,” Kol replied, pressing a hand to his chest.  “Whore implies I need money to have sex.  For you, it would be entirely free.”

               “What about me?” Enzo asked with a smirk, and Kol’s grin was every bit as naughty.

               “Sweet Baby Jesus,” Caroline muttered.  “There’s two of them.”

               “If you let me kill Lorenzo there won’t be,” Klaus offered, sounding for all the world as though he believe himself to be making a genuinely kind offer.  When Caroline just glared, he sighed and looked at his brother.  “To what do we owe the pleasure, Kol?”

               “Well, big brother, as crazed as I know you like to be, I’ve decided to try and appeal to your better nature.  Henrik, you see, is just a wee lad and-”

               “I’m not going to kill Henrik.”

               “- he really doesn’t deserve to have to face your wanker of a – what?”

               “I’m. Not. Killing. Him.” Klaus gritted out, before motioning at Caroline.  “She wants to adopt him.”

               “I never said _adopt_ ,” Caroline replied with a frown.  “Although, okay, that may happen because obviously I’m not letting Finn touch him, and the rest of your siblings are well… they’re your siblings, and you’re all all sorts of awful.”

               “Thanks, Love,” Klaus drawled, and Caroline shrugged unapologetically.  She might be in a relationship with him, but she wasn’t going to let that blind her to his flaws.

               She wasn’t going to be Elena.

               “You have good qualities, too.”

               “Henrik is kept under lock and key by our dear parents… well, rather – our death mother and _my_ dear father,” Kol, crossed his arms and leaned against the couch, right next to Bonnie’s head.  She frowned at his groin, which ended up practically in her face, and shuffled to the other side.  Kol grinned at her before turning a more serious expression back to Caroline.  “I approve of him being allowed some freedom, but why should I trust you?”

               “Because I don’t use him as a punching bag.”

               Caroline decided to be blunt, because who the hell cared about delicacy when a little boy’s life was on the line?  And she had managed to coax the truth from Henrik.  He was terrified of his parents, and clinging to the rumors he’d heard that Caroline was a God Slayer.  She thought she probably could have demanded that he let her kill him, and he still would have chosen her over Mikael and Esther.

               It broke her heart.

               “Excuse me?” Kol demanded, straightening, and Caroline realized that, while Elijah had his suspicions, Kol hadn’t had a clue of the treatment his brother received.

               “They didn’t need him to be his own person Kol.  Honestly, they didn’t _want_ him to be his own person.  Henrik’s entire purpose for Mikael and Esther was to be a weapon against Klaus. The best way to create a weapon is to beat it down until it doesn’t have an original thought of its own.  _That’s_ what would have happened to Henrik.  But he’s strong, and now we’ll stop them.”

               Kol’s eyes flashed with anger, and she saw a familiar glow in his palms.

               “Elijah won’t appreciate a fire.”

               “There are many things Elijah doesn’t appreciate,” Kol spat back.  But he took deep, calming breaths – the same ones Klaus had taught to her, and she wondered if he’d taught them to Kol as well.

               She suspected he had.

               When he opened his eyes again, the glow was gone.

               “You’re not at all prepared.  Elijah told me of your first encounter.  Brave of you, but had he decided to unleash, you would have been dead. We pale in comparison to Esther.”

               “I’m not going to fight her – yet,” Caroline clarified when Bonnie looked up from her book in question.  “We’re going to walk in, with four out of six siblings and make it clear that five of them are against them, and then we’ll walk out. With Henrik.”

               “Ballsy, but it won’t happen.  Esther will swat us like gnats.”

               “I think you underestimate your power,” Caroline replied.  “Together, the six of you have all the power she does.”

               “They won’t have Finn,” Enzo pointed out.  “That’s only five out of six.”

               “So I’ll be Finn.” Caroline shrugged.  “I can fake it.  I think.”

               “It’s insane,” Kol mused.  “But what the hell, Darling.  I like to take a risk or two.”

               And he was still pissed off.  Caroline could see it in the sharpness in his smile, and the way his fists would clench when he thought no one was looking.

               They were _all_ pissed.  Kol, and Rebekah, Klaus, and even Elijah.

               Good.  They would need that anger.

\---

               This was not going to end well.

               Caroline had been riding her wave of righteous anger, but now that she was actually sneaking into the belly of the beast while three of her allies distracted their parents…

               This was not going to end well.

               At least Bonnie and Enzo had been left behind.  Maybe they’d tell the story of the crazy would-be God Slayer who literally handed herself over to a Goddess because she had a bleeding heart.  At least no one could say she sacrificed her morals.

               “Calm down, Love,” Klaus murmured to her.  “Heightened emotion makes you give off an aura.”

               And an aura wasn’t good.  She’d worked with Bonnie for days between practicing with her elements in order to calm her aura enough to hide it. 

               Her initial plan had been deemed too “in your face” to work.  So instead she and Klaus were to sneak in, and sneak Henrik out, while the other distracted the rest of the family.

               Then they were going to run like hell until Caroline was somewhat skilled with her magic and wouldn’t die within a hot second of encountering Esther.

               It was a good plan.

               It should have been a good plan.

               Except that maybe Esther was omniscient.  Or just really fucking lucky.  Because when they approached that room with the blue carpet, Caroline felt a magical aura that called to her own.

               And her own answered that call.

               “Caroline,” Klaus hissed, but Caroline knew it was too late.

               Just as she knew Esther was in that room with Henrik, Esther knew she was outside with Klaus.

               “Thank-you,” she said, turning to Klaus and grasping his hands.  “I never said that, but you reminded me of who I am after Damon almost destroyed me.  And when my parents died… you kept me strong.  And I love you for that.  And for you, which is sort of bizarre, because you’re awful.  But I think maybe that’s _why_ I love you.  And I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.”

               “Don’t you dare say good-bye, Caroline.”

               She went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.  They were breathless when they broke apart, and she rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes, and wished that things were different.

               “Come into the room, Caroline.”

               She stepped back from Klaus, and pushed the doors of the room open.  She’d always sort of wanted to do the dramatic double door open, so at least that got crossed off her bucket list before she died horribly.

               Esther didn’t sound like a monster.  She didn’t look like one either.  But Henrik sat at her feet, and his expression was terrified, and that was all Caroline needed to know that sounds and looks didn’t matter.

               She was in the presence of the worst kind of monster.

               “My dear Henrik tried to hide what he’s been up to,” Esther said, stroking her hands over his hair.  “He forgot who his mother is.  And what I can do.”

               The shadows that swooped around them were like Klaus’, but they made her cringe in a way his never had.  When they engulfed Henrik, he went stiff for a moment, then he let out the most terrible, heart-wrenching scream Caroline had ever heard.  She stepped forward, only for Klaus to move quicker.

               His shadows roared to life.  Caroline couldn’t tell what was happening at first.  But when the darkness lessened somewhat, Esther was looking at her son in fury while he cradled Henrik and looked back at her, his eyes yellow, rage written across his face.

               “That was a mistake, bastard,” she said coldly.  Then a smile curved her lips, and it looked almost motherly, making her so at odds with the cruel act she’d committed against her youngest child without flinching.  “And look, you left the God Slayer unprotected.”

               It was Caroline’s turn to scream.  She hadn’t understood, exactly what Goddess of the World meant.  Not until Esther turned to her, and she found herself on the receiving end of the wind that was Esther’s main element.

               She had worked with Klaus until she was able to create barriers made of the element, but Esther was able to farm it into the sharpest blades that came from every direction.  Even if she’d been prepared, Caroline wouldn’t have been able to protect herself from the onslaught.

               The doors opened again, this time in the wrong direction as the force of Caroline body hit it.

               She was pretty sure something inside her broke.

               “That was pathetic,” Esther hissed.  “Even Erana, the arrogant fool, put up more of a fight.”

               Caroline rolled onto her side with a pained moan and watched as shadows came out once more.  Esther shrieked, and the world lit up.

               Klaus was knocked back, half his face a mess of terrible burns.  The scent of scorched skin made Caroline want to wretch.  She wasn’t sure where she got the strength to pull herself to her feet, but as Esther turned her attention to her sons, she managed to claw her way up.

               It was fire that came to Caroline the way air came to Esther, and like the Goddess, she had learned to make it into a weapon.

               The look on Esther’s face, when she was skewered with a spear made of flame might have been comical, if Caroline were able to really notice it through her pain.  Instead, she focused on that spear and making it expand, and actually explode within Esther’s body.

               It was gruesome and gory, and Caroline felt vicious victory, even as she stumbled down the wall again.

               She looked at Henrik, who looked back with wide eyed terror.

               “Run,” she croaked out.  Because Esther wouldn’t recover from that, not quickly, and if Henrik could get away…

               If Henrik could get away, then maybe Caroline wouldn’t have been a complete failure of a God Slayer.

               “You dare try to steal _my_ son,” Esther hissed, and Caroline didn’t get how she could actually stand, even though half her torso was, quite literally, gone.  “You little bitch.”

               “You fucking psycho,” Caroline shot back, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and yeah, that couldn’t be good.

               The air thickened around her, and then she felt a pressing on her throat, lifting her to her toes and cutting off her air.  Caroline clawed at the invisible hold, but all she did was scratch her own neck.

               “You’ll die, and the boy will still be mine… and I’ll be sure he always remembers that what happens to him, to Niklaus, is because of _you_.”

               Caroline vision blurred, turning black at the edges and –

               She could suddenly breathe again.

               Hitting the ground hurt, but she almost couldn’t care, not when she was able to take in precious air.  She looked up, confused when she saw Klaus and Henrik above her. 

               “Easy, Love,” Klaus murmured but he helped her sit upright, just as another voice spoke.

               “Enough, Mother.”

               “Finn?” Caroline tried to ask, but she couldn’t quite make the sound.

               “Finn, my child, what are you doing?” Esther asked.  Her expression and tone had turned cajoling, and Caroline wondered how many times she’d used that tone to get exactly what she wanted from her eldest son.

               “I didn’t wish to believe what Elijah told me… but I heard it myself.  Niklaus, I always knew you hated him.  But _Henrik_?” Finn actually looked heartbroken.  “He is a child.”

               “He is a _tool_ ,” Esther snapped back.

               “No, mother,” Rebekah replied, and it was still weird to see her with legs.  But apparently that was a thing Water Demi-Gods could do.  “He is a child. Just as we were _all_ you children once. But you never treated us as such.”

               “Be very careful, Rebekah my dear.  I am _still_ the Goddess of the World and-”

               “You can end us all and blah blah… only right now you can’t, can you, mother?” Kol sneered.  He eyed the brutal wound on his mother’s side, and shot Caroline a wink.  “Caroline there has left you weakened.  Even at full power, you’d be hard pressed to take us all.  After all… we _are_ your children.”

               “You will never escape me,” Esther replied, but Caroline could see now that Kol was right.  She was pale and sickly looking. She’d clearly done enough damage.

               Caroline smiled, even as her vision blurred again.

               “We don’t have to escape you.  You’ll let us leave,” Elijah replied.  “You have enough pride to not want to lose, and Mikael is still too weakened by Caroline flames to come to your aid.  The downside, to requiring your consort be so much weaker than you.”

               “That bitch will destroy you, Elijah.  It’s in her name – _God Slayer_.”

               “Perhaps.  But she was willing to risk her life to save _your_ son… the very thing you claim she will destroy. I’ll take my chances.”

               Caroline swallowed back a scream as Klaus lifted her, and he murmured apologies into her skin as he held her.

               “Stay with me, Love.”

               “I’m not sure I can,” she admitted, though she wasn’t sure if the words ever made it past her lips.

               She met Esther’s gaze, and the Goddess smirked, her victory clear.

               “No matter.  She’s already all but dead.  I won’t be merciful when you realize such, and come crawling back to me.” Her gaze moved to Klaus.  “This time, I think I’ll make you skin yourself, lost in your mind, by your own powers.  I’ll show Henrik how to do it.  The light is inclined more towards healing, but I know how to train my creatures.”

               “No, mother,” Klaus replied. “You just know how to twist them.  You won’t get the chance again.”

               “I love you,” Caroline whispered, but she didn’t think he heard her as he and his siblings began to walk away from their mother.

               The pain became too much, and the world went black.

\---

               Death hurt a lot more than Caroline thought it would.

               She’s always imagined it would be sort of painless floating, and then light and then whatever came next.

               Instead, it was a pounding headache and more pain than she’d ever felt before.

               “She’s waking up!”

               Caroline’s eyes blinked open, and she looked up in confusion at the pretty face peering down at her in worry.

               “Bonnie?” she asked.  “Oh shit… how did you die?  You weren’t supposed to die.  I’m pretty sure I promised you wouldn’t.”

               “Everyone dies eventually,” Bonnie replied dryly.  “But eventually isn’t today… for either of us.”

               It took a moment before Caroline could understand that, and when she did she tried to sit up.  It was a bad idea.  Literally, everything hurt.

               “I’m not dead?” she asked, feeling a joyful smile curve her lips.

               “I said that Bonnie would probably turn out to be useful.” Klaus joined Bonnie, and he smiled down at her, brushing her hair out of her face.  “I also said Lorenzo wouldn’t be.  I was right on both counts, I hope you know.”

               “Enzo makes me happy,” Caroline replied.  “Where is he?”

               “He’s keeping Henrik occupied,” Bonnie replied, stepping back to do… something.  “He’s the best at it, which really proves that Klaus was totally wrong.  Because _that_ is useful.  That poor boy has been worrying himself sick over you.”

               “I’m alive,” Caroline breathed, closing her eyes.  A set of lips pressed to hers, and Caroline found herself thoroughly, enjoyably kissed.

               “Stop that!” Bonnie snapped from somewhere in the vague distance.  “That is _not_ helping her heal.”

               “I dunno,” Caroline murmured, grinning goofily up at Klaus.  “I feel a lot better.”

               Bonnie rejoined them, and poked Caroline in the side, making her wince.  She would’ve yelped too, but that would’ve been too painful.

               “Ow.”

               “Yeah, I can see how healed you are.  Very healed. Magic kisses.” Bonnie rolled her eyes.  “I’m the healer here.  No getting frisky until I give the okay.”

               She checked a few bandages, and then left them alone with another warning to not get handsy.  Once she was gone, Klaus squeezed Caroline’s hand and perched on the edge of her bed.

               “You,” he said with a severe expression.  “Are to never do that again.”

               Caroline felt her smile fade, and she squeezed his hand back.

               “Klaus, I have to.” When he would have argued, she shook her head, and then winced because ouch.  “Klaus, Esther won’t stop.  Not until she’s dead, or all of us are.  She’s, like, psycho crazy.  I finally get why you’re all awful. Really, I don’t get why you aren’t _more_ awful. Like, you’re almost well-adjusted considering you had that for a mother. I’m actually impressed. I’m also the only one that can actually kill her.  I think.  I’m still not sure how that works.  Do you?”

               “Not really,” Klaus acknowledged.  “It’s just… the way it’s always been.”

               “Well, once I’m up, I’d like to change that.  The not knowing, I mean.  I like knowing stuff.” Caroline closed her eyes, feeling tired again.  “I’m glad I’m not dead.”

               “I love you.”

               Her eyes popped open at that, and Klaus smiled, and ran a finger down her cheek.

               “I didn’t tell you that before, when you told me.  Rather rude, saying it as a good-bye.  But I thought you should know I feel the same.”

               “Good.” Her eyes drifted shut again.  “Really good.  Now I want you to cuddle me. But not too much, because I hurt everywhere.”

               She could hear Klaus grumble as he tried to figure out what “not too much” meant, and she went to sleep with a smile on her face.

               Nothing was at all done.  There was still a crazy Goddess and her probably equally psycho consort who would want to see all of them dead.

               And Caroline had never been happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! I hope you enjoyed it, and that it didn't feel too rushed at the end. Someday, I would like to come back to this and write a prequel and a sequel... but for now, they lived happily, if in slight fear of Esther.


End file.
